Working in digital marketing, you come to expect Google updates in the same way that someone living in tornado alley expects things to get a bit breezy every once in a while.

Some updates roll by without doing much beyond stirring up some dust, but other times they hit hard and fast, and if you do fall foul of an update it can be a struggle to sit back, evaluate and understand the reasons behind a site’s sudden plunge into obscurity.

At this time it’s an extremely important part of agency life to ensure that our clients don’t fall into this latter category or, if they come on board having suffered in the past, that we help them recognise the inherent issues and get back on an even footing as quickly as possible.

To this end, identifying up and coming updates (following industry trends, understanding Google’s aims as a company), and taking stock of those that have happened or continue to happen, is an integral part of our offering.

We’ve had an internal system for tracking updates since the early days of Panda and Penguin, but we’ve decided that this information is valuable enough a resource to share with everybody.

On this basis, we’ve created our own Google Algorithm Timeline, spanning the years 2000-2014, and we’ll ensure to keep it updated (and supported with in-depth blog posts and insights from the team) in the doubtless tumultuous years ahead too.

You can view the Google algorithm timeline here and, if you believe that your site has incurred a penalty as a result of any of these updates, don’t hesitate to get in touch to discuss our penalty removal services.