SEOmoz has announced the publication of their "living document" detailing all the major Google algorithm changes that have taken place since the 2003 Boston update. With Google making hundreds of changes every year, what started out as a blog post attempting to compile a list of named updates, has now become a living document.
(Source: Search Engine Journal)
So, what exactly is a living document? Well, it is a document designed to outline the constant changes in Google's algorithm, complete with detailed description and various links.
Following is the living document's comprehensive list of all the Google updates till date:
- Google Toolbar – December 2000
- Boston – February 2003
- Cassandra – April 2003
- Dominic – May 2003
- Esmerelda – June 2003
- Fritz – July 2003
- Florida – November 2003
- Austin – January 2004
- Brandy – February 2004
- Google IPO – August 2004
- Nofollow – January 2005
- Allegra – February 2005
- Bourbon – May 2005
- XML Sitemaps – June 2005
- Personalized Search – June 2005
- Gilligan – September 2005
- Google Local/Maps – October 2005
- Jagger – October 2005
- Big Daddy – December 2005
- Supplemental Index – November 2006
- Universal Search – May 2007
- Buffy – June 2007
- Dewey – April 2008
- Google Suggest – August 2008
- Vince – February 2009
- Rel-canonical Tag – February 2009
- Caffeine – August 2009
- Real-time Search – December 2009
- Google Places – April 2010
- May Day – May 2010
- Brand Update – August 2010
- Google Instant – September 2010
- Instant Previews – November 2010
- Social Signals – December 2010
- Overstock.com Penalty – January 2011
- Panda/Farmer – February 23, 2011
- The +1 Button – March 30, 2011
- Panda 2.0 – April 11, 2011
- Panda 2.1 – May 9, 2011
- Schema.org – June 2, 2011
- Panda 2.2 – June 21, 2011
- Google+ – June 28, 2011
- Panda 2.3 – July 23, 2011
So, what does this list reveal?
As you look at this exhaustive list of the changes until now, you will notice that algorithm changes have become more frequent since last year which saw six changes, as opposed to only four in 2009. 2011 has already seen nine major changes so far. Subsequently, it looks like Google over the past two year has become more open to major changes. Also of late, it seems like the focus has shifted drastically towards improving the search item quality, rather than the previous user experience changes.
