Ranking & Algorithms: a timeline
How Google orders results, and what moves when it changes its mind: core and spam updates, ranking volatility, visibility gains and losses. Most of what is published here is reaction, so read it against the confirmed dates in the update history before deciding anything moved because of an update.
Latest ranking & algorithms news · This month's ranking & algorithms recap · RSS for this topic · What Google said about it
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October 2026 71 headlines
- RESOLVED: September 2026 spam update
- Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Volatility X2, Spam Updates, AI Overviews Everywhere, Blending Ads & Organic, Google & Microsoft Earnings
- Unconfirmed Google Search Ranking Update: Volatility & Chatter Spike
- Google Search Ranking Volatility Gets Heated October 24th
- 13 Must-Have SEO Audit Tools to Boost Your Rankings
- AI search strategy: 4 layers of brand visibility
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September 2026 12 headlines
Spam update September 2026 spam update began 24 Sep
- Does the URL You Link to in Google My Business Impact Ranking in the Local Pack?
- Local SEO Experiments That Actually Worked: Maps, AI, Reddit & Reviews 🧪 with Andrew Shotland
- EP 275- Rankings Up, Calls Down: What AI Visibility Is Really Worth to Local Businesses (Part 2)
- commercial serps product features dominate
- Local SEO in AI Search: What Actually Works 🔍 with Greg Gifford
- Google expands agentic commerce tools ahead of the holiday shopping rush
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August 2026 30 headlines
Spam update August 2026 spam update began 18 Aug
- Google August 2026 spam update done rolling out
- Google Updates Site Reputation Abuse (Parasite SEO) Policy
- Google’s August 2026 spam update hit rankings harder than normal
- Judge Questions Google AI, Spam Update Fallout – SEO Pulse
- Google releases August 2026 spam update
- AI Visibility Is Lying to You: There’s No One-Size-Fits-All AI Search KPI
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July 2026 11 headlines
- From SEO to GEO: Why Rankings Alone Won’t Get You Visibility in AI Search
- Study: Content Recency's Impact on AI Visibility in 2026
- 6 Digital PR Strategies to Boost AI Visibility
- What SEO Patents Can and Can't Tell You
- Should You Noindex Thin or Low-Value Pages?
- 10 Quick Ways to Improve Your Ranking Today
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June 2026 12 headlines
Spam update June 2026 spam update began 24 Jun
- Google June 2026 spam update done rolling out
- Google releases June 2026 spam update
- Google May 2026 core update rollout is now complete
- Screaming Frog and SISTRIX AI data: Case Study, MCP Integration
- Playing the hand you’re dealt: Takeaways from our AI search roundtable
- New AI Visibility Insights in Bing Webmaster Tools: Intents, Topics, Citation Share, Compare
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May 2026 11 headlines
Core update May 2026 core update began 21 May
- May 2026 Core Update: Visibility Analysis and Data Updates
- Google May 2026 core update rolling out now
- AI Search & SEO Industry News – May 2026: Google I/O, the May Core Update, and More
- Ocado vs M&S – Food fight!
- Keeping Trusted Content Visible in an AI-Powered Search World
- Keeping Trusted Content Visible in an AI-Powered Search World
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April 2026 1 headline
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March 2026 1 headline
Core update March 2026 core update began 27 Mar
Spam update March 2026 spam update began 24 Mar
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February 2026 3 headlines
Discover update February 2026 Discover update began 5 Feb
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December 2025 2 headlines
Core update December 2025 core update began 11 Dec
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July 2025 2 headlines
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June 2025 2 headlines
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April 2025 2 headlines
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September 2024 1 headline
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August 2024 1 headline
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July 2024 1 headline
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March 2024 1 headline
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February 2024 1 headline
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November 2023 3 headlines
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October 2023 1 headline
How this is built
Every archived headline is tagged with topics by keyword. Each month shows the most significant ranking & algorithms headlines by this site's impact score, plus any Google update that began that month. Months with nothing archived are left out. The archive began in earnest in mid-2025, so earlier months are thin.