Baidu makes updates to its main search algorithm on a regular basis.
Like Google, they also make significant updates from time to time, Baidu makes a significant change to a part of the algorithm and this update is given a codename.
The below table lists known Baidu algorithm updates from the most recent, to the oldest. Where possible, the overview links to further explanations regarding the change.
| Date | Update Reference | Overview |
| September 2021 | Breeze 4.0 | Further targeting of websites using misleading or clickbaity titles. Title tags are important to Baidu search. |
| August 2021 | Beacon 4.0 | Targeting websites that work to the detriment of user experience and safety, such as disabling the back button, changing back button behavior, or utilizing PII without permission. Ziyuan post. |
| July 2021 | Blue Sky 2.0 | Targeting low-quality content on the search results page. Ziyuan post. |
| January 2021 | Thunder 3.0 | Further targeting of websites attempting to manipulate search rankings through artificial traffic generators, click bots and falsifying other engagement signals. |
| June 2020 | Ice Bucket 5.0 | Targeting of misleading App opens – e.g. when a user clicks on a search result and rather than loading the webpage it opens an App, or misleading images, buttons, or links that don’t highlight they’re going to open an App, but they do on interaction. |
| April 2020 | Illegal Content Enforcement | Chinese law prohibits gambling or bet/wager style gaming, and this update further targeted and demoted such content. |
| February 2020 | Forceful Wind | Targeting link aggregation pages, where the main content is a series of links to other pages and the MC offers little to no value – examples can be dynamically generated search pages, thin category pages, or weird HTML sitemaps. |
| August 2019 | Hurricane 3.0 | Enhancement and targeting of websites in groups publishing syndicating and cross-posting content. |
| May 2019 | Trade Wind | Targeting websites inserting links behind pagination text to direct or mislead users to other parts of the website (or other sites), instead of the next page in the series. |
| April 2019 | Content Viewing | Targeting websites that require users to perform an action or input information before being able to view the page content. |
| March 2019 | Beacon 3.0 | Improvements to the Beacon 2.0 update. |
| November 2018 | Ice Bucket 2.0 | Improvements to the original Ice Bucket 1.0 update. |
| October 2018 | Breeze 3.0 | Improvements to the Breeze 2.0 update. Now thought to include titles for misleading downloads and programs. |
| September 2018 | Hurricane 2.0 | Further targeting of websites with plagiarized and duplicate content. |
| June 2018 | Drizzle | An update targeting low-quality, fake, or misleading B2B websites. B2B websites are regulated by Baidu. |
| May 2018 | Beacon 2.0 | Improvements to the original Beacon 1.0 update, also through to now target websites attempting to steal user data. |
| May 2018 | Thunder 2.0 | Targteing websites utilizing black hat SEO tactics and click manipulation. |
| May 2018 | Aurora | Focused on pages with time stamps, and SERPs began to give weighting to webpages with timestamps for searches with time sensitivity. |
| April 2018 | Breeze 2.0 | Improvements to the original Breeze 1.0 update. |
| November 2017 | Thunder 1.0 | Targeting websites attempting to manipulate search rankings through click bots and artificial engagement signals. |
| September 2017 | Breeze 1.0 | Targeting page title violations (as outlined by Baidu in their search documentation) |
| July 2017 | Hurricane 1.0 | Targeting poor quality content; plagiarized content, posting of unrelated content, and creating content to generate search traffic instead of creating content with high user value. |
| May 2017 | Pomegranate | Targeting websites with intrusive advertising, and advertisments disguised as page content. |
| February 2017 | Beacon 1.0 | Targeting websites that attempt to hijack user devices and browsers. |
| November 2016 | Blue Sky 1.0 | Targeting websites, such as high-traffic publishers, publishing advertorials and catalogs to game the traffic received. |
| August 2014 | Ice Bucket 1.0 | Targeting low-quality websites with poor mobile experience; e.g., font size, spacing, responsiveness (lack of). |
| February 2013 | Money Plant | Targeting websites engaging in buying and selling links with the purpose of manipulating search rankings. |
| June 2012 | Unnamed Update | An unnamed update acknowledged by a member of Baidu’s engineering team. It is thought that two updates in June 2012 rolled out a week apart targeting “low-quality” websites. This was confirmed on a ZhangZhang post. |