If you’ve been around for a while you’ve heard of infamous Google algorithm updates. One I can remember clearly was the Florida update – that was one of the very first that got webmasters to notice what Google was doing to the SERPs. In recent memory there are Panda and Penguin. Several other big updates were called Caffeine, Boston, Esmeralda, Dominic, and Cassandra.
So just how does Google come up with these funny names that stick ?
There’s been no single rhyme or reason to how Google updates are named. The first named update was christened “Boston” by Webmaster World users, as it was announced at SES Boston. The next few updates (“Cassandra”, “Dominic”, “Esmeralda”) were also named by WMW users, in a style similar to how hurricanes are named. Once the monthly “Google Dance” ended, that system fell into disuse. Later updates were named by various sources, including WMW, and major search blogs and forums. Google themselves have coined the occasional name (“Caffeine”), while a few names have been Google-inspired (“Vince” and “Panda” were named after Google engineers). Read for more information.
In the last year to year and a half the big updates have been called Panda and Penguin. In fact although Penguin 2.0 is due to roll out in the next several weeks, Google watchers say that the upcoming update will really the fourth version of Penguin to be released. Panda has completed it 25th rendition.
I have to say from my years of experience that the really big updates that shake and drop the placement for hundreds and thousands of website get names that we webmasters remember and share in our own work circles. Panda and Penguin are pretty bad, but the Florida update was one of the worst one previously that I can remember having such broad far reaching impact and that was back in November 2003.
I am sure that as Google morphs and our search needs change that there are other algorithms in the planning all under the guise of making search results more relevant to you the user.