Algorithm watch

The directory of algorithm updates

Google Search, AI models and social media: track the major changes affecting your visibility in a single timeline, with official sources and the concrete impact on your SEO and marketing.

A watch reference maintained by the Pulsar team. Every entry links to its official source. When in doubt about a date, always verify through the source link.

AI
2026 31
AI

Google Launches Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite, and 3.5 Flash Cyber

Google DeepMind has released three new Gemini models designed to power production-grade AI agents at scale: Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite, and the security-focused 3.5 Flash Cyber integrated into CodeMender. These models prioritize token efficiency, lower latency, and reduced cost per agentic task, making large-scale AI workflows significantly more accessible for developers and enterprises.

Impact

As AI-generated content and agentic workflows become more deeply embedded in content pipelines, SEO and marketing teams that adopt these more efficient models can produce, process, and iterate on content assets at lower cost and higher throughput, directly influencing the speed and volume of content operations that feed organic visibility strategies.

AI

Google Launches Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber, a Lightweight AI Cybersecurity Model

Google DeepMind has introduced Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber, a specialized cybersecurity model built on top of Gemini 3.5 Flash and fine-tuned to find, validate, and patch software vulnerabilities at scale. The model is already deployed within Google's internal codebases and will be made available to governments and trusted partners through a limited-access pilot program. Its lightweight architecture enables high-frequency scanning at lower cost, making it a practical alternative to larger, more expensive cybersecurity models.

Impact

While Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber is not a direct SEO tool, its integration into automated code security pipelines signals a broader shift toward AI-driven developer infrastructure that can influence how technical content, APIs, and web platforms are maintained and trusted by search engines. Organizations that adopt faster vulnerability patching workflows reduce site downtime and security incidents, both of which are indirect positive signals for search visibility and domain authority.

AI

Gemini API Managed Agents: Background Tasks, Remote MCP and More

Google has announced a significant expansion of Managed Agents in the Gemini API, introducing background execution, remote MCP server integration, custom function calling, and credential refresh capabilities. These updates directly respond to developer feedback and are designed to help teams build reliable, production-ready AI agents without managing complex infrastructure. For marketing and digital teams exploring AI-driven automation, these enhancements lower the barrier to deploying autonomous agents in real-world workflows.

Impact

As AI agents become core to content automation and data enrichment workflows, platforms that surface agent-generated outputs in search results will increasingly reward structured, reliable, and scalable agent architectures. Teams that adopt production-ready agent frameworks now will be better positioned to generate and refresh content at scale, which has direct implications for organic visibility and AI-generated answer coverage.

Social media

Meta Launches Muse Image: AI Image Generation Now in Meta AI

Meta has introduced Muse Image, its first image generation model developed by Meta Superintelligence Labs, now live within the Meta AI assistant across its platforms. The model enables users to create, edit, and share high-quality visuals from simple conversational prompts, with deep integration across Instagram, WhatsApp, and soon Facebook and Messenger. For agencies and marketers, Muse Image represents a significant shift in how branded content, creative assets, and advertising visuals can be produced at scale directly within Meta's ecosystem.

Impact

As Muse Image becomes available to advertisers through Meta Advantage+ Creative in the coming weeks, it will directly influence ad creative quality and performance signals within Meta's ad auction, potentially reshaping how brands approach visual asset production and creative testing at scale. Agencies that integrate this tool early into their content workflows will be better positioned to produce high-volume, platform-native visuals optimized for feed, story, and chat placements.

AI

Google Launches Nano Banana 2 Lite and Gemini Omni Flash for Developers

Google DeepMind has released two new generative media models: Nano Banana 2 Lite, its fastest and most cost-efficient image model, and Gemini Omni Flash, a high-quality video generation and conversational editing model now available via the Gemini API and Google AI Studio. Together, these models enable developers and agencies to build end-to-end multimedia pipelines combining rapid image generation with cinematic video output at competitive price points.

Impact

With Nano Banana 2 Lite rolling out across AI Mode in Search, the Gemini app, Google Photos, NotebookLM, and Google Ads, AI-generated visuals are becoming a native layer of Google's consumer and search surfaces, which means brands producing high-volume visual content at scale now have a direct pathway to influence how their products appear across Google's ecosystem. Agencies that integrate these models early into their creative workflows will be positioned to deliver faster, richer, and more contextually relevant assets across search and social touchpoints.

AI

GPT-5.6 (OpenAI)

OpenAI introduces GPT-5.6 (Sol, Terra, and Luna versions) in an initially limited rollout, ahead of a broader release to ChatGPT, Codex, and the API.

Impact

OpenAI's next generation is taking shape. Anticipate another rise in the quality of ChatGPT's responses and the continued importance of AEO.

Google

June 2026 Spam Update

Brief anti-spam update, rolled out over a few days, strengthening the enforcement of Google's anti-spam rules.

Impact

Targeted penalties for abusive practices. A fast, concentrated effect on the profiles concerned.

AI

DiffusionGemma: Google's 26B MoE Model Delivers 4x Faster Text Generation

Google DeepMind has released DiffusionGemma, an experimental open model using text diffusion to generate entire blocks of 256 tokens simultaneously rather than word by word, achieving up to 4x faster inference on dedicated GPUs. Released under Apache 2.0, this 26B Mixture of Experts model activates only 3.8B parameters during inference, making it accessible on high-end consumer hardware. It opens new possibilities for speed-critical, interactive, and non-linear text generation workflows.

Impact

While DiffusionGemma is primarily a developer and research tool rather than a direct SEO lever, its ability to generate content at over 1,000 tokens per second locally could dramatically accelerate AI-assisted content production pipelines, enabling marketing teams to iterate on copy, metadata, and structured content at unprecedented speed. Agencies integrating local inference workflows may gain a significant competitive edge in content velocity and experimentation cycles.

AI

Claude Fable 5 et Mythos 5 (Anthropic)

Anthropic unveils Claude Fable 5, its most capable widely released model, alongside Mythos 5, restricted to limited access.

Impact

Anthropic is pushing the frontier of reasoning and agentic work. Being a clear and reliable source becomes all the more decisive for being cited by Claude.

AI

Gemini 3.5 Live Translate: Real-Time Speech Translation Across 70+ Languages

Google DeepMind has released Gemini 3.5 Live Translate, an audio model enabling near real-time speech-to-speech translation in over 70 languages while preserving speakers' intonation, pacing, and pitch. The model is rolling out across Google AI Studio, Google Meet, and the Google Translate app on Android and iOS, with broad implications for multilingual communication in professional and consumer contexts.

Impact

As AI-powered multilingual communication becomes native to major platforms like Google Meet and Google Translate, brands and agencies with international audiences should anticipate shifts in how multilingual content is consumed and indexed, since real-time audio translation may reduce friction barriers that previously favored text-based SEO strategies.

AI

Gemma 4 12B: Google's Encoder-Free Multimodal Model Now Runs on Laptops

Google DeepMind has introduced Gemma 4 12B, a mid-sized open model designed to run locally on consumer hardware with just 16GB of VRAM, featuring a novel encoder-free architecture that processes vision and audio inputs natively through the LLM backbone. Positioned between the edge-friendly E4B and the larger 26B Mixture of Experts model, it delivers near-26B benchmark performance at less than half the memory footprint. For developers and marketing teams building agentic or multimodal applications, this release marks a significant step toward powerful AI capabilities without cloud dependency.

Impact

As AI-generated and multimodal content becomes increasingly central to how search engines and AI assistants surface information, teams that integrate locally-run multimodal models can produce and test richer content formats faster, reducing reliance on third-party APIs and improving content iteration cycles that feed into organic visibility strategies.

AI

Grok Voice (xAI)

While waiting for Grok 5, xAI rolls out Grok Voice and pushes its multimodal capabilities, broadening Grok's conversational use cases.

Impact

Grok is multiplying its usage surfaces, notably on X. Brands present in this ecosystem must monitor their representation in Grok.

AI

Claude Opus 4.8 (Anthropic)

Anthropic releases Claude Opus 4.8, the first Claude model where browser agents move into production, with markedly improved reliability on code review.

Impact

Claude's agents are gaining autonomy on the web. The quality and structure of online sources weigh more heavily in what they report and cite.

AI

Gemini 3.5 Flash (Google)

At Google I/O 2026, Google launches Gemini 3.5 Flash, the first public version of the 3.5 family, built for agents, coding, and long-running tasks.

Impact

The model that powers AI Overviews and AI Mode is rising further in quality. AEO remains at the heart of the visibility strategy on Google.

AI

Gemini Omni (Google)

Google unveils Gemini Omni, a model able to generate from any type of input (image, audio, video, text), starting with video.

Impact

Generative search is becoming multimodal. Brands must think about their visibility beyond text, all the way to visual and video content.

AI

Google Project Genie Meets Street View: Real-World AI Simulation Expands Globally

Google DeepMind has integrated Street View imagery into Project Genie, its generative world model, enabling users to create interactive, stylized simulations grounded in real-world locations. The feature is now rolling out globally to Google AI Ultra subscribers at $200 per month, starting with U.S. locations. This marks a significant step in bridging generative AI environments with real geographic data.

Impact

As Google deepens the connection between its Maps infrastructure and generative AI, brands and marketers with a strong local presence should anticipate new opportunities and expectations around location-based visual content. The integration of Street View into AI-generated environments signals that geographic accuracy and rich local imagery will increasingly influence how AI systems represent and surface real-world places.

AI

Google DeepMind Launches Gemini Omni Flash: Native Multimodal Video Creation

Google DeepMind has introduced Gemini Omni, a new model family capable of generating and editing high-quality video from any combination of inputs including images, audio, video and text. The first release, Gemini Omni Flash, is now rolling out to Gemini app subscribers, Google Flow, YouTube Shorts and YouTube Create App. This marks a significant leap from Gemini's previous image-focused generative capabilities toward a fully multimodal creation engine grounded in real-world knowledge.

Impact

As AI-generated video becomes natively integrated into Google's ecosystem including YouTube Shorts and Google Search verification tools, marketers and SEO professionals must rethink their video content strategies, since Google-watermarked AI content will now be verifiable and indexed with explicit provenance signals. Brands that adopt Gemini Omni early for video production will gain a competitive advantage in content velocity and visual storytelling, both of which are increasingly factored into engagement metrics that influence search visibility.

AI

Google Antigravity 2.0: What Marketers Need to Know

Google has announced Antigravity 2.0, a new initiative published through its DeepMind blog, signaling continued investment in advanced AI research and applied technologies. While the source content available is minimal, the announcement marks a notable moment in Google's ongoing push to integrate cutting-edge AI capabilities across its ecosystem. Marketing and SEO professionals should monitor developments closely as such foundational AI updates often have downstream effects on search and content visibility.

Impact

Announcements originating from Google DeepMind frequently precede shifts in how Google's core systems, including Search, process and rank content, making early awareness critical for brands and agencies seeking to maintain competitive visibility.

AI

Mistral Medium 3.5 (Mistral)

Mistral releases Mistral Medium 3.5 and enriches its voice offering with Voxtral, strengthening real-time and multimodal use cases.

Impact

Mistral is broadening its use cases beyond text. European brands have an interest in monitoring their presence across all Mistral surfaces.

AI

GPT-5.5 (OpenAI)

OpenAI makes GPT-5.5 and GPT-5.5 Pro available in the API: better intent understanding, coding, online search, data analysis, and document creation.

Impact

The model that powers ChatGPT and its search is improving. The higher quality of responses reinforces the importance of being a cited source (AEO).

AI

DeepSeek V4 (DeepSeek)

DeepSeek releases DeepSeek V4 in preview, with Mixture-of-Experts models (V4-Pro and V4-Flash) and a native one-million-token context.

Impact

DeepSeek consolidates a powerful, open alternative. Its adoption in third-party tools adds surfaces where your brand can be cited.

AI

Gemma 4 (Google)

Google releases Gemma 4, its family of open models designed for advanced reasoning and agentic workflows.

Impact

Google's open models are spreading across many third-party products. The consistency and reliability of your content determine whether these models reuse it.

AI

Mistral Small 4 (Mistral)

Mistral releases Mistral Small 4, a new iteration of its compact model, geared toward efficiency and European deployment.

Impact

Mistral maintains a credible European alternative. For French-speaking and European brands, being cited by Le Chat and Mistral's models is gaining importance.

AI

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite (Google)

Google makes Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite available to developers through the API: a fast, cost-efficient model for high-volume use cases.

Impact

Google is deepening its Gemini lineup down to the lightweight models that increasingly power assisted search experiences. Visibility comes through clear, citable content.

AI

Gemini 3.1 Pro (Google)

Google releases Gemini 3.1 Pro in preview, a step up in intelligence deployed in the Gemini app, the API, Vertex AI and NotebookLM, with gains on reasoning and complex problems.

Impact

It reinforces the model that powers Google's generative search in 2026. The increased quality of answers keeps AEO at the heart of the visibility strategy.

AI

Claude Opus 4.6 (Anthropic)

Anthropic launches Claude Opus 4.6, featuring a one-million-token context window and advances in coding, planning, debugging, and financial analysis.

Impact

Anthropic strengthens its position on long-running and agentic tasks. To be cited by Claude, factual, structured, and verifiable content remains decisive.

2025 27
AI

GPT-5.2 (OpenAI)

OpenAI launches GPT-5.2 (Instant, Thinking and Pro), geared toward professional work, with progress on documents, code, images, long contexts and tool use. A Codex variant accompanies the release.

Impact

A new quality benchmark for professional AI answers. To include in the tracking of brand visibility in ChatGPT.

AI

Claude Opus 4.5 (Anthropic)

Anthropic launches Claude Opus 4.5, presented as its most capable model, with new peaks in code, reasoning and agentic tasks.

Impact

A new high-end benchmark among answer engines. It reinforces the value of tracking how a brand is cited in Claude.

AI

Gemini 3 (Google)

Google launches Gemini 3, its new flagship multimodal family, deployed from day one in search (AI Mode), the Gemini app and its developer tools, topping the reference leaderboards.

Impact

The model that now powers Google's generative search. Its quality directly determines the answers and citations in AI Overviews and AI Mode.

AI

Grok 4.1 (xAI)

xAI releases Grok 4.1, an update focused on speed, answer quality and a sharp reduction in the hallucination rate, accompanied by a Fast variant optimized for tools and agents.

Impact

More reliable answers on the assistant integrated into X. The drop in hallucinations improves the accuracy of brand information relayed.

AI

GPT-5.1 (OpenAI)

OpenAI updates ChatGPT with GPT-5.1 (Instant and Thinking), with a more natural tone and adaptive reasoning that decides whether or not to think depending on the difficulty of the question.

Impact

Faster and more accurate AI answers for the general public. It remains the benchmark to follow for how brands are presented in ChatGPT.

AI

Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Anthropic)

Anthropic launches Claude Sonnet 4.5, presented as its best model for code, agents and computer use, with marked progress on long, autonomous tasks.

Impact

It raises the quality of Claude answers and agents even further. The reliability of brand information relayed by the assistant is reinforced.

AI

GPT-5 (OpenAI)

OpenAI releases GPT-5, its flagship model unifying reasoning and speed through an automatic router that picks the depth of thinking based on the question. It becomes the default model in ChatGPT, with clear gains in coding, mathematics and reliability.

Impact

A new reference model behind ChatGPT, likely to reshape the answers and citations served to hundreds of millions of users. Monitor your presence and accuracy in generated answers.

AI

Claude Opus 4.1 (Anthropic)

Anthropic releases Claude Opus 4.1, a targeted iteration of Claude Opus 4 that improves on agentic coding, reasoning and tool use, at the same price as the previous version.

Impact

Improves assistants and agents based on Claude. Consolidates Claude as an answer engine to include in an AI visibility strategy.

AI

ChatGPT agent (OpenAI)

OpenAI unifies Operator, Deep Research and ChatGPT into ChatGPT agent, an agentic system that browses the web via its own virtual computer to accomplish tasks end to end.

Impact

Assistants move from answering to acting and actively consult sites. Technical accessibility and content clarity become critical.

AI

Grok 4 (xAI)

xAI launches Grok 4, presented as its most capable model, with native tool use and built-in real-time search, available through the Grok app and the xAI API.

Impact

A new step up in power for the assistant integrated into X. Worth monitoring as a citation source, particularly on current-affairs topics.

Google

June 2025 Core Update

Summer 2025 core update, rolled out over about two to three weeks, with strong fluctuations reported by the SEO community.

Impact

Significant SERP volatility. Global re-evaluation of quality and relevance signals.

AI

Magistral (Mistral)

Mistral AI releases Magistral, its first family of reasoning models (Small as open source, Medium for enterprise), with transparent reasoning and strong multilingual capability.

Impact

A leading European player for reasoning models, valued for its multilingualism. It broadens the engines that may cite a brand in French.

AI

o3 and o4-mini (OpenAI)

OpenAI launches o3 and o4-mini, reasoning models able for the first time to use tools within ChatGPT (web browsing, Python code, image analysis and generation) as they think.

Impact

Assistants combine reasoning and active web search. The ability to be found and cited during reasoning becomes key for AI visibility.

AI

GPT-4.1 (OpenAI)

OpenAI launches the GPT-4.1 family (including mini and nano) in its API, focused on code, precise instruction following and long context windows, gradually replacing GPT-4.5.

Impact

Reinforces the reliability of assistants and agents built on the OpenAI API. An indirect impact on the quality of answers generated from brand content.

AI

Llama 4 (Meta)

Meta releases the Llama 4 family (Scout and Maverick), the first natively multimodal Llama models with a Mixture-of-Experts architecture, in open access, with very long context windows.

Impact

High-performing open models that equip many third-party assistants and tools. It broadens the number of engines that may cite a brand.

AI

Gemini 2.5 Pro (Google)

Google DeepMind launches Gemini 2.5 Pro, a thinking (reasoning) model that tops several leaderboards, with a one-million-token context window and strong gains in code and science.

Impact

A benchmark model that powers Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode. Its quality directly influences generative answers in search.

Google

March 2025 Core Update

First core update of 2025, rolled out over about two weeks, continuing to reward useful and relevant content according to Google.

Impact

A new re-evaluation of quality. To be monitored on positions and organic traffic over the following weeks.

AI

AI Mode in Google Search (Google)

Google introduces AI Mode, a fully conversational search mode powered by Gemini, able to handle complex, multi-part questions with follow-ups, first in Labs in the United States.

Impact

A new generative search interface within Google itself. Optimizing to be cited as a source (AEO) extends beyond AI Overviews.

AI

GPT-4.5 (OpenAI)

OpenAI makes GPT-4.5 available, a general-purpose model emphasizing world knowledge, reduced hallucinations and a more natural answering style.

Impact

More reliable AI answers and fewer factual errors. The accuracy of brand information relayed by the assistant improves.

AI

Claude 3.7 Sonnet (Anthropic)

Anthropic releases Claude 3.7 Sonnet, presented as the market's first hybrid reasoning model, able to answer instantly or think in an extended, visible way. The launch is accompanied by the Claude Code tool.

Impact

Improves the reasoning quality of AI answers, particularly technical ones. Reinforces Claude as an answer engine where a brand can be cited.

AI

Grok 3 (xAI)

xAI launches Grok 3, its flagship model equipped with reasoning capabilities and the DeepSearch real-time web search feature, trained on its Colossus supercomputer.

Impact

Grok, integrated into X, becomes an additional research assistant. A new citation channel to watch, especially for news.

AI

Deep Research (Perplexity)

Perplexity launches Deep Research, a mode that performs many iterative web searches and synthesizes a detailed, sourced report on complex topics, also available in the free plan.

Impact

It multiplies the pages consulted and cited per query. Coverage, structure and freshness of content determine presence in these reports.

AI

Sonar (Perplexity)

Perplexity launches Sonar, its in-house model optimized for fast answers grounded in the web, which powers the platform's free queries as well as its search API.

Impact

Perplexity positions itself as an answer engine that cites sources. Being referenced in its results becomes a genuine AI visibility lever.

AI

Deep Research (OpenAI)

OpenAI launches Deep Research, an agent that conducts autonomous web research over several minutes and produces a structured, sourced report from dozens of pages consulted. It relies on a version of o3 optimized for analysis.

Impact

AI reports aggregate and cite many sources: being among the pages consulted and cited becomes decisive. Structured, reliable content is favored.

2024 17
AI

DeepSeek V3 (DeepSeek)

The Chinese company DeepSeek releases DeepSeek V3, a large open-access model with a Mixture-of-Experts architecture (671 billion parameters, 37 billion activated per token), with performance comparable to the best proprietary models at a very low training cost.

Impact

Confirms the rise of low-cost open models as possible sources for AI assistants. Worth watching, as these models increasingly power third-party answer tools.

Google

December 2024 Spam Update

Spam update rolled out just after the December core update, strengthening the enforcement of anti-spam rules.

Impact

Additional penalties for sites relying on abusive practices. Possible pile-up with the core update effects.

Google

December 2024 Core Update

Core update launched less than two weeks after the end of the November core update, a rare case of two closely spaced core updates.

Impact

A second wave of reshuffling in a single month. A period hard to analyze when isolating the cause of the swings.

AI

Gemini 2.0 Flash (Google)

Google DeepMind launches Gemini 2.0 Flash, geared toward agentic uses (tools, actions) and integration with Google search and products.

Impact

Strengthens agentic capabilities and the presence of AI within the Google ecosystem.

AI

ChatGPT search (OpenAI)

OpenAI adds native web search to ChatGPT: the assistant queries the web in real time and cites its sources with clickable links for news-related questions.

Impact

ChatGPT becomes an answer engine competing with Google. Being cited and linked in these answers becomes a visibility challenge (AEO) in its own right.

AI

OpenAI o1 (OpenAI)

OpenAI unveils o1, the first family of models designed to "think" longer before answering, with strong abilities in reasoning, math and code.

Impact

More reliable answers on complex tasks. Launches the wave of reasoning models.

Google

August 2024 Core Update

Core update aimed at better rewarding genuinely useful content and reducing the space given to content created solely to rank, taking into account feedback after March 2024.

Impact

Some small sites and independent publishers hit in 2023 were able to recover part of their visibility.

Google

June 2024 Spam Update

Anti-spam update targeting practices that violate Google's rules (abusively generated content, site reputation abuse, etc.).

Impact

Algorithmic penalties for sites using spam tactics. Abrupt loss of visibility for the profiles concerned.

AI

Rollout of AI Overviews (Google)

Google rolls out AI Overviews (AI-generated summaries at the top of the SERP) to the United States, an evolution of the SGE experience announced at Google I/O.

Impact

A major SEO shakeup: AI answers capture clicks. The need to optimize to be cited as a source (AEO).

AI

GPT-4o (OpenAI)

OpenAI unveils GPT-4o, an "omni" model natively processing text, audio and image in real time, faster and cheaper than GPT-4.

Impact

Smooth voice and visual interactions. Accelerated everyday adoption of AI assistants.

Google

March 2024 Core Update

Core update of exceptional scale (rollout over about 45 days) integrating the helpful content system directly into the core algorithm, accompanied by new spam updates.

Impact

Google announces it aims to reduce low-value content by about 45 percent. Strong impact on sites with low-quality or automated content.

Google

March 2024 Spam Update

New spam updates launched alongside the March core update, targeting scaled content, site reputation abuse and expired domain abuse.

Impact

Entire sites were deindexed for abusive content. The end of tolerance for "parasite SEO" and mass-produced content.

AI

Claude 3 (Anthropic)

Anthropic launches the Claude 3 family (Haiku, Sonnet, Opus), with leading performance in reasoning, vision and multilingual processing.

Impact

A serious competitor to GPT-4. Multiplies the answer engines where a brand can be cited.

AI

Mistral Large and Le Chat (Mistral)

Mistral AI unveils Mistral Large, its flagship model rivaling GPT-4, and launches Le Chat, its consumer conversational assistant, together with a distribution partnership with Microsoft (Azure).

Impact

Le Chat becomes a new assistant that may cite sources in its answers. One to watch as an AI visibility channel, especially in European and French-speaking markets.

AI

Gemini 1.5 (Google)

Google DeepMind unveils Gemini 1.5, with a very long context window (up to one million tokens) allowing large volumes of documents to be analyzed.

Impact

Analysis of entire corpora in a single query. Reinforces Google's place in generative search.

2023 13
Google

November 2023 Core Update

Second closely spaced core update in the autumn of 2023, a few weeks after the October one, continuing the adjustment of quality signals.

Impact

A new wave of reshuffling. Sites hit in October sometimes saw their situation shift again.

Google

October 2023 Core Update

Core update rolled out overlapping with the October spam update, with strong fluctuations in the SERPs.

Impact

Global re-evaluation of page quality. Strong volatility, hard to isolate from the simultaneous spam update.

AI

Mistral 7B (Mistral)

Mistral AI, a young French player, releases Mistral 7B, an open-weight model with 7.3 billion parameters under the Apache 2.0 license that outperforms larger models and establishes European credibility against the American giants.

Impact

The arrival of an open European player broadens the ecosystem of models likely to generate answers. A diversification signal to watch on the AI visibility side.

Social media

Meta launches Threads

Meta launches Threads, a text conversation app tied to Instagram, which reaches tens of millions of sign-ups within days.

Impact

A new social channel to watch for brand visibility and content distribution.

Google

April 2023 Reviews Update

A "reviews" update extending the evaluation of review content to all formats, before public announcements of this system were discontinued.

Impact

Last announced iteration of the reviews system, now updated continuously. The quality bar remains at its highest.

AI

GPT-4 (OpenAI)

OpenAI launches GPT-4, a multimodal model capable of processing text and images, with reasoning abilities significantly superior to GPT-3.5.

Impact

Widespread AI-assisted content production and more reliable research assistants.

2022 11
AI

Launch of ChatGPT (OpenAI)

OpenAI releases ChatGPT, a conversational agent based on GPT-3.5, which becomes the fastest-growing consumer application in history.

Impact

The start of the conversational search era. The birth of the challenge of brand visibility in AI answers (AEO).

Google

September 2022 Core Update

Second core update of 2022, rolled out shortly after the launch of the helpful content system, which complicated the analysis of causes.

Impact

Widespread reshuffling. Difficulty isolating the effect of the core update from that of helpful content.

2021 9
Google

November 2021 Core Update

Year-end core update rolled out over about two weeks, right in the middle of the shopping season, which drew criticism over the timing.

Impact

Reshuffling ahead of the holidays, potentially sensitive for e-commerce. Close traffic monitoring recommended.

Google

July 2021 Link Spam Update

Anti-spam update targeting artificial links, including those from poorly disclosed sponsored or affiliate articles.

Impact

Manipulative links are neutralized more effectively. Importance of correctly tagging sponsored and affiliate links (rel).

Google

July 2021 Core Update

Second part of the summer core update, completing the adjustments started in June and potentially reversing some of the observed effects.

Impact

Positions to be re-evaluated across the whole June-July period. Some sites hit in June recover, others drop further.

Social media

Instagram details its algorithm

Adam Mosseri publishes "Shedding More Light on How Instagram Works", explaining that Instagram uses several distinct algorithms across surfaces (Feed, Stories, Explore, Reels).

Impact

Each format has its own ranking signals. The content strategy must adapt surface by surface.

Google

June 2021 Core Update

First part of a two-stage core update: Google announces that some improvements were not ready, so a second part would follow in July.

Impact

Partial reshuffling in June, to be re-evaluated after the July part. Analysis should not be locked in before both rollouts finish.

Google

April 2021 Product Reviews Update

First update dedicated to product reviews, designed to reward in-depth, original testing rather than content that merely summarizes a list of products.

Impact

Shallow review pages drop. A premium on real testing, measurements, comparisons and proof of use.

2020 4
Google

December 2020 Core Update

Last core update of 2020, one of the broadest of the year, with significant reshuffling across many topics.

Impact

Strong position swings at year-end. The need to analyze winners and losers to adjust the content strategy.

Social media

TikTok explains its For You feed

TikTok publishes an official explanation of how its "For You" recommendation system works (interactions, video information, account settings).

Impact

Confirms that reach depends mainly on engagement and not on follower count. Content comes first.

Google

May 2020 Core Update

Major core update rolled out during the height of the health crisis, with a strong impact on the travel, events and local sectors.

Impact

High volatility in already fragile sectors. Re-evaluation of relevance amid upended demand.

2019 4
Google

BERT

Rollout of the BERT language-processing model, which understands the full context of a query by analyzing words in relation to one another. Google presents it as the biggest advance in five years.

Impact

Conversational and long-tail queries are better understood. A premium on natural content that genuinely answers the intent.

Google

September 2019 Core Update

Third core update of 2019, with more moderate impact according to observers, with the same guidance: focus on content.

Impact

Position adjustments across many sites. No specific corrective action expected from publishers.

Google

June 2019 Core Update

Core update pre-announced by Google the day before its launch, a first in the company's communication.

Impact

A new wave of reshuffling. Illustrates Google's intent to prepare the SEO ecosystem for major updates.

2018 3
Google

August 2018 Core Update ("Medic")

Broad core update that strongly affected health, wellness and more broadly YMYL ("Your Money Your Life") topics, hence its nickname "Medic".

Impact

Strengthens the weight of E-A-T on sensitive topics. YMYL sites must demonstrate expertise, authority and trustworthiness.

Google

Speed Update

Loading speed becomes a ranking factor for mobile searches, penalizing only the slowest pages.

Impact

Mobile performance officially enters SEO. Optimizing load time becomes a ranking lever.

Google

March 2018 Core Update

Broad core algorithm update, confirmed by Google, with no specific target. It re-values pages that had been underrated until then.

Impact

Global re-evaluation of relevance and quality. No one-off "fix": the answer is substantive content.

2016 2
Google

Mobile-first indexing

Google announces the gradual switch to indexing that relies first on the mobile version of pages for crawling, indexing and ranking.

Impact

The mobile version becomes the reference for SEO. Any content missing from mobile risks no longer being taken into account.

Google

Penguin 4.0

Penguin becomes real-time and is integrated into the core algorithm. It acts at the page level and devalues dubious links instead of penalizing the whole site.

Impact

Artificial link profiles lose their effect. Backlink cleanup is re-evaluated continuously, without waiting for a refresh.

2015 3
Google

RankBrain

Google reveals RankBrain, a machine-learning system that helps interpret queries, especially those never seen before. Rolled out earlier in 2015, it was officially announced in October.

Impact

Meaning and search intent take precedence over keyword matching alone. The need to write for user intent.

Google

Panda 4.2

Slow refresh of the Panda quality filter, affecting about 2 to 3 percent of English-language queries, before its permanent integration into the core algorithm.

Impact

Sites with thin or low-quality content are devalued. A premium on in-depth, original content.

2014 6
Google

Penguin 3.0

Penguin refresh rolled out slowly worldwide, more than a year after Penguin 2.1, letting cleaned-up sites recover while penalizing new abusive profiles.

Impact

A recovery window for sites that cleaned up their links. A long wait for webmasters between refreshes.

Google

Panda 4.1

New Panda iteration refining the identification of low-quality content, affecting about 3 to 5 percent of queries.

Impact

More precise filtering of thin content. A recovery opportunity for quality sites previously penalized.

Google

HTTPS / SSL as a ranking signal

Google officially announces that using HTTPS becomes a lightweight ranking signal, initially affecting less than 1 percent of global queries.

Impact

Moving to HTTPS becomes an SEO advantage and a security standard. Gradual migration of the entire web toward encryption.

Google

Pigeon

Overhaul of the local search algorithm, tying local ranking more closely to traditional web SEO signals and improving distance and location criteria.

Impact

Local SEO moves closer to classic SEO. Site authority and on-page signals weigh more heavily in the local pack.

Google

Panda 4.0

Major Panda update combining a new algorithm and a data refresh, affecting about 7.5 percent of English-language queries.

Impact

Significant reshuffling among content sites. Some aggregators drop while other quality publishers recover.

Google

Payday Loan 2.0

Second iteration of Payday Loan, broadening the fight to spammy sites themselves and not just the targeted queries.

Impact

Extension of the spam penalty to abusive domains. Reinforced cleanup of sensitive niches.

2013 3
Google

Hummingbird

Major overhaul of the core algorithm (already live for about a month at the time of the announcement), geared toward semantic understanding and the intent behind conversational queries.

Impact

Better interpretation of natural-language queries. A shift from keyword SEO to intent SEO.

Google

Payday Loan

Update targeting heavily spammed queries (loans, pharmacy, adult content) and the associated aggressive spam techniques.

Impact

Cleanup of the SERPs in the most abused niches. Penalties for large-scale link and content spam.

Google

Penguin 2.0

New generation of Penguin analyzing links across all pages of a site more deeply, not just the homepage. About 2.3 percent of English-language queries affected.

Impact

Finer and broader analysis of link profiles. Deep internal link schemes are also exposed.

2012 4
Google

Pirate (DMCA)

Update devaluing sites receiving a high number of copyright infringement takedown requests (DMCA).

Impact

Loss of visibility for piracy and counterfeit-content sites. A signal in favor of legitimate content.

Google

Penguin

First version of the Penguin anti-webspam filter, targeting artificial links and anchor over-optimization. Impact on about 3 percent of English-language queries.

Impact

Penalty for manipulated link profiles. Cleaning up and disavowing toxic backlinks becomes essential.

Google

Page Layout / Top Heavy

Update penalizing pages with too many ads above the fold, at the expense of content visible right away.

Impact

Sites saturated with ads at the top of the page lose rankings. Quick access to content becomes a criterion.

2011 3
Google

Freshness Update

Algorithm improvement aimed at favoring more recent results for time-sensitive queries (events, recurring topics, news), affecting up to 35 percent of searches.

Impact

Recent and regularly updated content is favored on trending topics. A premium on editorial freshness.

Google

Panda 2.0

Extension of Panda to all English-language searches worldwide, integrating signals from users blocking sites.

Impact

International rollout of the quality filter. Behavioral signals enter quality assessment.

Google

Panda ("Farmer")

First version of the Panda quality filter, designed to devalue thin, duplicate or low-value content, especially "content farms". Initial impact on about 11.8 percent of queries in the United States.

Impact

Massive drop for sites with shallow or aggregated content. Birth of the demand for original, in-depth content.

2010 1
Google

Caffeine

New indexing infrastructure delivering results about 50 percent fresher and near-continuous crawling of the web.

Impact

Much faster indexing of new content. Freshness and publishing frequency become assets.

2007 1
Google

Universal Search

Google merges classic web links with results from Google Images, News, Videos, Local and Books into a single results page.

Impact

The end of the page with only ten blue links. New visibility levers open up (images, video, local) within the SERP.

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