30-second summary:
- There have been three core updates in 2021, released in June, July, and November, while another was rumored but unconfirmed in October
- Featured snippets that fell under the YMYL algorithm were unexpectedly removed in February, then restored in March
- Product reviews came under the microscope in April, with marketing and sales-centric language penalized in favor of expertise on review-centric websites
- Multiple spam updates unfolded throughout the year, though these updates should not impact any website that follows Google’s guidelines
Successful SEO strategy is akin to dancing the tango with Google updates. Unfortunately for copywriters, the Big G can be an unpredictable partner at times. In addition to daily algorithm tweaks that go unnoticed, we all brace ourselves for core updates that have a sizeable impact on page ranking and performance. Throughout 2021, Google has confirmed a handful of updates.
Further updates have also been speculated by experienced web-based professionals, reporting these to aid others in remaining on the right side of an adjustment. Throughout this guide, we’ll discuss the updates rolled out by Google in 2021 to date.
Complete list of 2021 Google updates
As promised, let’s review all the algorithm updates issued by Google during 2021, major and minor alike. Some of these are official, confirmed by Alphabet themselves. The core updates are an obvious example of this. Others were noticed by webmasters of influential brands and discussed online. These unconfirmed updates are marked in red below.
1. Passage indexing (February)
The passage indexing update, announced in October 2020, is probably better described as passage ranking. The purpose behind the update is simple and noble. It will pick out one particular sentence or paragraph from a long-form article, aiding a niche web query and avoiding irrelevance.
Essentially, this update seeks out keywords