Google Algorithm Updates: Live Tracker (2020 to Today)

Google has confirmed 50+ ranking algorithm updates since 2020. This tracker lists every one of them with the exact start date, completion date, rollout length, update type and impact level, synced twice a day with the Google Search Status Dashboard. Match the date your Search Console clicks dropped against this list to identify which update hit your site, then open that update for the recovery guide.

How to use this Google algorithm update tracker

Open Google Search Console, set the date range to 16 months, and look for the day organic clicks fell. If that day sits inside the rollout window of a confirmed update above, the drop is very likely algorithmic. Core updates affect many pages at once. Spam updates usually hit specific page groups or link profiles. Helpful content demotions are site-wide and tend to persist until the next core update.

If your drop does not line up with any update, check for a manual action in Search Console, an indexing problem, or AI Overview click displacement. Rankings that held steady while clicks fell is the classic AI Overview pattern, and it needs a different fix than an algorithm penalty.

Google algorithm update types explained

Core updates are broad reassessments of content quality and relevance, rolled out several times a year, usually over two to three weeks. Spam updates improve SpamBrain, the automated system that catches policy violations. Helpful content updates ran as standalone releases between August 2022 and September 2023 and were merged into the core ranking system in March 2024. Reviews updates targeted review content through November 2023 and now run continuously. Discover updates are scoped to the Discover feed rather than Search results.