Every Google algorithm update, and which ones Google admits to

Of the 292 entries here, 54 carry a Google announcement. The rest are periods where rank-tracking tools recorded unusual movement and the industry noticed. That ratio is the single most useful fact on this page, because it means the default explanation for a ranking change is not a named update you can read about.

The practical consequence: an entry in this tracker is a reason to check your own data, never a diagnosis on its own. Market-wide volatility says nothing about whether your pages moved. Open Search Console for the same dates, compare impressions and average position before and after, and only look for a cause if your own numbers actually changed.

If they did change, the order of investigation matters. Rule out the boring causes first, because they are far more common than an algorithm update: a template change, a robots or noindex mistake, a redirect that broke, a server slowdown, or seasonality. Our guide on why Google rankings drop walks that sequence, and it starts nowhere near this page.

Core updates deserve one specific caution. They roll out over weeks, and partial recovery during a rollout is normal and tells you nothing. Reading day-three data as a verdict is how people end up reversing changes that were working.