Six guides, written to be read calmly

Google Algorithm Updates Explained

How updates actually work, which ones still matter, how to tell whether one has hit you plus what to do if it has. Most people arrive at this subject in a panic, so the useful version starts by narrowing down what has genuinely happened.

6 guidesCore UpdatesThe HistoryDiagnosisRecoveryPrevention
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You cannot optimise for an algorithm update. You can only build something that keeps working through them. Google changes its ranking systems thousands of times a year plus makes a handful of announced core updates. None of them can be predicted or gamed. What you can do is understand what has actually happened when your traffic moves, since a large share of suspected update damage turns out to be something else entirely, plus the fix for one is nothing like the fix for another.

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How Often Does Google Update Its Algorithm?

Far more often than most people realise, plus far less dramatically. This covers what core updates are, what a broad core update means, how they differ from targeted updates, how Google announces them, how long a rollout takes plus who actually speaks for Google on the subject. Read this before reading anything else about an update, because most of the panic in this area comes from not knowing what is normal.

Read the explainer
Where the current rules came from

The Record, And The Standard

Two guides. One is the history of every update that still shapes how search works, kept as a single reference rather than sixteen separate pages nobody reads twice. The other is the standard those updates have all been moving towards.

Read the second one if you only read one. Almost every major update of the last decade has been a step in the same direction, plus knowing that direction is worth more than knowing the names.

Sixteen Updates, One Reference

What Is the Google Panda Update?

The full history in one place. Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, Pigeon, Medic, BERT, Page Experience, Helpful Content, Product Reviews and Spam updates, plus the older ones worth knowing as entries rather than essays.

The whole timeline Read the guide → The Direction Of Travel

What Does Google Mean by Helpful Content?

The phrase everything now hangs on plus the one most often repeated without being examined. What Google actually describes, what it rules out and why a page written primarily to rank tends to read like one.

The standard behind the updates Read the guide →
Diagnose before you change anything

When Your Traffic Drops

These two are the reason most people find this cluster. Read them in order, because rebuilding a site before establishing what actually happened is how a bad month becomes a bad year.

An update drop is only one of several possibilities plus it is not the most common. A technical fault, a migration handled badly or a penalty are all more likely, plus each needs a completely different response. Our guides on what puts a site at risk cover the penalty side of that.

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How to Tell if Your Traffic Drop Is Caused by a Google Update

How to check whether the dates line up, how to read the volatility trackers that monitor search results plus how to rule out the more ordinary explanations. Most suspected updates are not updates.

Rule things out, in order Read the guide → If It Genuinely Was One

How to Recover From a Google Algorithm Update

How to audit a site after a drop, what recovery realistically involves plus why some sites come back and others never do. The uncomfortable part is that a core update is not a penalty, so there is frequently nothing broken to fix.

Includes why some never recover Read the guide →
The only version of this that works

Not Being Caught Next Time

There is no way to prepare for a specific update, since nobody outside Google knows what is coming. There is a way to be the kind of site that updates tend to reward rather than punish, plus it is unglamorous enough that most people would rather chase the next tactic.

Boring, Plus It Works

How to Prepare Your Website for Future Google Algorithm Updates

How to future proof a site plus what the safest long term strategy actually is. The answer has not changed in fifteen years: build something a person would be glad to have found, then keep it maintained.

Future proofing plus long term strategy Read the guide →
Everything we do, from £350 a month

We Have Never Had To Undo Anything.

Core updates are uncomfortable for firms that took shortcuts plus uneventful for everybody else. We do not buy links, generate pages in bulk or use anything that only works while nobody has noticed, which means an update is a thing we read about rather than a thing we brace for. If your traffic has already dropped, that is a different conversation and we are happy to have it.

What the fee covers:

Local and national SEO Quarterly technical audits Content written by people Google Maps and reviews Website management Updates every three weeks
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One clear retainer. No setup fee. Nothing that needs undoing later.

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Using these guides

Frequently Asked

My traffic has dropped. Was it an update?
Possibly, plus probably not. In our experience the more common causes are a technical fault, a migration handled badly, seasonal variation in the sector or a change somebody made to the site and forgot about. Start with how to tell whether a drop is from an update, since the dates either line up or they do not plus that takes an hour to establish. Do not rebuild anything until you know.
What is the difference between a core update drop and a penalty?
A penalty means something on the site breaches the guidelines and is being suppressed for it. A core update means nothing is wrong with your site at all, Google has simply reassessed what a good answer looks like plus other pages now fit that better. The distinction matters enormously, because recovering from a penalty is a matter of undoing something while recovering from a core update is a matter of becoming genuinely better. Our guides on what puts a site at risk cover the penalty side.
Do I need to know the names of all these updates?
No, plus that is why sixteen separate pages became one reference. The names are useful for reading other people's analysis rather than for running a website. What is worth knowing is the direction: nearly every major update since Panda has pushed the same way, towards rewarding pages a person would actually be glad to have found. What Google means by helpful content is the more useful read.
Can you optimise for a specific update?
No. Nobody outside Google knows what is coming, rollouts take weeks and the effects are frequently misread even after the fact. Anybody selling preparation for a named future update is selling something they cannot deliver. What is genuinely possible is being the kind of site updates tend to reward, which the future proofing guide covers plus which is duller than most people want it to be.
Will my rankings come back on their own?
Sometimes, though waiting is only sensible once you know what happened. Rankings frequently move again during a rollout, so a drop in week one of an update is not yet a result. Beyond that, sites that recover generally do so because something genuinely improved rather than because time passed. The recovery guide covers why some sites come back plus why others never do.
Should I be worried about the next update?
Only if you would struggle to defend how your rankings were built. Updates are uncomfortable for sites relying on something that works while nobody is looking plus largely uneventful for sites that are simply useful. That is not reassurance, it is the actual mechanism: an update reassesses quality, so the risk you carry is however far your site sits from what Google is trying to reward.