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[[wikipedia:Google Search{{w|Google Search]]}}, offered by [[wikipedia:Google{{w|Google]]}}, is the most widely used search engine on the [[wikipedia:World Wide Web{{w|World Wide Web]] }} as of 2014, with over three billion searches a day. This page covers key events in the history of Google's search service.

For a history of Google the company, including all of Google's products, acquisitions, and corporate changes, see the [[wikipedia:history of Google{{w|history of Google]] }} page.

| 2017 || January 10 || Search algorithm update (ranking) || Google announces that it will crack down on intrusive interstitials on mobile web pages, such as popups that cover the main content, standalone interstitials that the user has to dismiss, and above-the-fold content that looks like an interstitial.<ref name=moz/><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.seroundtable.com/google-intrusive-interstitials-mobile-penalty-now-rolling-out-23237.html|title = Official: Google Intrusive Interstitials Mobile Penalty Now Rolling Out|date = January 11, 2017|accessdate = January 20, 2019|publisher = Search Engine Roundtable}}</ref> The plan to introduce this penalty was announced in August 2016.<ref name=searchengineland-interstitial>{{cite web|url = https://searchengineland.com/interstitialgeddon-google-warns-will-crack-intrusive-interstitials-next-january-257252|title = Google warns it will crack down on “intrusive interstitials” in January. Google will reinforce its emphasis on the mobile search experience with a new penalty affecting "intrusive interstitials" on mobile web pages.|last = Schwartz|first = Barry|date = August 23, 2016|publisher = Search Engine Land|accessdate = January 20, 2019}}</ref>

| 2017 || April 25 || Search algorithm update (presentation), incorporation of user feedback || Google announces quality improvements to search and more direct feedback options for users for search results and Featured Snippets (the new, official name for what the SEO community had previously called "answer boxes").<ref>{{cite web|url = https://blog.google/products/search/our-latest-quality-improvements-search/|title = Our latest quality improvements for Search|date = April 25, 2017|last = Gomes|first = Ben}}</ref>

| 2017 || late October and November || Search algorithm update (presentation) || Search engine trackers notice a decrease in the percentage of search queries showing featured snippets from ~16% to ~14%, after a mostly steady increase for two years. This is also accompanied by an increase in the percentage of knowledge panels, mostly for the same queries.<ref name=moz/><ref>{{cite web|url = https://moz.com/blog/knowledge-graph-eats-featured-snippets|title = Knowledge Graph Eats Featured Snippets, Jumps +30%|last = Meyers|first = Peter J.|date = November 27, 2017|accessdate = January 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://searchengineland.com/featured-snippet-bubble-busting-286107|title = Is the featured snippet bubble bursting? What's going on with featured snippets? Columnists Brian Patterson and Chris Long share data which suggests that Google may be testing a reduction in SERP answer boxes.|last = Patterson|first = Brian|date = November 20, 2017|accessdate = January 20, 2019}}</ref>

| 2017 || November || Transparency || The Twitter account @searchliaison is created, through which Google's search liaison Danny Sullivan can officially communicate updates related to Google Search algorithm updates. Sullivan would continue to use his own Twitter handle @dannysullivan for updates that are not official communications.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://twitter.com/searchliaison|title = @searchliaison on Twitter|accessdate = January 20, 2019}}</ref>|-| 2017 || December 1 || Search algorithm update (presentation) || Google increases the length of the snippets it includes for each search result.<ref name=moz/><ref>{{cite web|url = https://searchengineland.com/google-officially-increases-length-snippets-search-results-287596|title = Google officially increases length of snippets in search results. Company says change is meant to provide more descriptive snippets.|date = December 1, 2017|accessdate = January 20, 2019|publisher = Search Engine Land|last = Schwartz|first = Barry}}</ref>|-| 2018 || March || Search algorithm update (ranking) || Google makes a core algorithm update that affects the rankings of a number of websites, some positively, some negatively. The update is labeled the "brackets" update by Glenn Gabe. Google as well as SEO commentators say that websites adversely affected should not be looking to make quick fixes, but rather should continue improving their site over the long term.<ref name=moz/><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/march-7-2018-google-algorithm-update-brackets/|title = The Brackets Update – Analysis and Findings From The March 7, 2018 Google Algorithm Update (and March 14 Tremor)|last = Gabe|first = Glenn|date = March 17, 2018|accessdate = January 20, 2019|publisher = G-Squared Interactive}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.seroundtable.com/google-confirms-core-update-25390.html|title = Google Confirmed Weekend Algorithm Ranking Shift As "Core Update"|last = Schwartz|first = Barry|publisher = Search Engine Roundtable|date = March 13, 2018|accessdate = January 20, 2019}}</ref>|-| 2018 || March 14 || Search algorithm update (presentation) || For one week, Google experiments with defaulting to show no search results for simple queries such as mathematical expressions and date/time lookups, with the search results available through a button that needs to be clicked to show them. Most real-world queries are not affected, but there is discussion of what this experiment means for the future of search.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://moz.com/blog/zero-result-serps|title = Zero-Result SERPs: Welcome to the Future We Should've Known Was Coming|last = Meyers|first = Peter J.|date = March 15, 2018|accessdate = January 20, 2019|publisher = SEOMoz}}</ref>|-| 2018 || March 26 || Search algorithm update (indexing) || Google announces that it is rolling out its switch to mobile-first indexing at a wider scale; the version of a page that Google will keep in its index and use to make ranking decisions will be the mobile version.<ref name=moz/><ref>{{cite web|url = https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2018/03/rolling-out-mobile-first-indexing.html|title = Rolling out mobile-first indexing|date = March 26, 2018|accesdate = January 20, 2019|publisher = Google Webmaster Central Blog}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://searchengineland.com/google-begins-rolling-out-mobile-first-indexing-to-more-sites-295095|title = Google begins rolling out mobile-first indexing to more sites. Sites that follow the best practices for mobile-first indexing will be migrating over now, and Google will send notifications via Search Console.|last = Schwartz|first = Barry|date = March 26, 2018|accessdate = January 20, 2019|publisher = Search Engine Land}}</ref>|-| 2018 || May 13 || Search algorithm update (presentation) || Google reduces the average length of snippets included with each search result from about 300 characters to 150-160 characters, similar to the level prior to the increase in snippet length at the end of November 2017.<ref name=moz/><ref>{{cite web|url = https://searchengineland.com/google-confirms-it-shortened-search-results-snippets-after-expanding-them-last-december-298196|title = Google confirms it shortened search results snippets after expanding them last December. Time spent increasing meta descriptions for the longer Google search results snippets may have been wasted.|last = Schwartz|first = Barry|date = May 14, 2018|accessdate = January 20, 2019|publisher = Search Engine Land}}</ref>|-| 2018 || June 14 || Search algorithm update (presentation) || Google moves videos in its desktop search results from organic-like results to a dedicated carousel, and the number of search engine results pages with videos increases significantly.<ref name=moz/> This has unexpected impact on some e-commerce retailers, because videos showing up in carousel mean that the site no longer appears in the organic search results.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/trapped-in-google-video-carousels-case-study/|title = Trapped In Google’s New Video Carousels – A Dangerous SERP Feature For Some Ecommerce Retailers|last = Gabe|first = Glenn|date = July 17, 2018|accessdate = January 20, 2019|publisher = G-Squared Interactive}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = Google is replacing video thumbnails with a desktop carousel|date = June 19, 2018|accessdate = January 20, 2019|publisher = RankRanger}}</ref>|-| 2018 || July 9 || Search algorithm update (ranking, mobile usability) || Google finishes rolling out to all users the incorporation of mobile speed into its ranking of webpages. The update affects only extremely slow webpages, and thus does not affect the majority of webpages.<ref name=moz/><ref>{{cite web|url = https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2018/01/using-page-speed-in-mobile-search.html|title = Using page speed in mobile search ranking|date = January 17, 2018|accessdate = January 20, 2019|publisher = Google Webmaster Central Blog}}</ref>|-| 2018 || August 1 || Search algorithm update (ranking) || Google rolls out a core algorithm update dubbed "Medic" by SEO observers.<ref name=moz/> The algorithm largely affects your money or your life (YMYL) sites, in particular health/medical websites, with some sites seeing significant improvements and others seeing significant declines.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://moz.com/blog/googles-august-1st-core-update-week-1|title = Google's August 1st Core Update: Week 1|date = August 9, 2019|accessdate = January 20, 2019|publisher = SEOMoz|last = Meyers|first = Peter J.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.seroundtable.com/google-medic-update-26177.html|title = Google Medic Update: Google's Core Search Update Had Big Impact On Health/Medical Sites|last = Schwartz|first = Barry|date = August 8, 2018|accessdate = January 20, 2019|publisher = Search Engine Roundtable}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.mariehaynes.com/the-august-1-2018-google-update-strongly-affected-ymyl-sites/|title = My thoughts on the August 1, 2018 Google Algorithm Update|last = Haynes|first = Marie|date = August 5, 2018|accessdate = January 20, 2019}}</ref>