Last year came and went like the years before, leaving behind a series of important algorithm updates and changes. Some were major and completely surprising (for example, the removal of authorship markups); while many others were eagerly expected. One in particular was the Penguin 3.0 Update, which many webmasters and SEOs had been hoping for over a year to help them recover from earlier updates. However, it turned out to have a much smaller effect than anticipated. Another surprising aspect of Penguin was Google’s announcement about changing this update from a manual refresh to a continuous process.
From the familiar Google “zoo crew” that we know, to another update – The Pigeon Update; 2014 certainly made an impact with its updates and algorithm changes. The Pigeon was first launched in July for the US version of Google, followed by a rollout in December for other versions in the UK, Australia, and Canada. This update greatly altered the ranking patterns and how local search results are viewed.
Below you can find the complete timeline of all Google Updates which occurred in the past year, 2014, presented as a clear and succinct Infographic.
This infographic was orginally published on Elephate’s Blog
No matter the size and real importance, each time Google releases an update of their algorithms; it always becomes a subject of passionate discussion within the industry. This prompts me into an interesting consideration…
Aren’t we supposed to be focusing our time and efforts in keeping up the quality of our work and simply providing users with nothing short of a quality experience to be insured from any algorithm updates, rather than actively keeping track of updates and refreshes? Or has staying up-to-date with Google updates become a norm and essential activity in present times? I will be happy to find out your opinions from the comments below.