Google constantly keeps improving and modifying, like no other major search engine is able to. In 2010 alone there have been as many around 10 algorithm or related changes rolled out by Google. With the frequent tweaks that Google keeps making to its algorithm, it continues to return the best results and lead the bunch of major search engines in terms of popularity and market share. Here is the inventory of the changes we saw in Google in 2010 and around.

• Answer Highlighting in search results (January 2010): Allows the users to get to the required information more quickly by seeking and bolding the likely answer to their question right in the search results.
   
• Refined Searches by Location (February 2010): “Nearby” tool in the Search Options panel helps users to better refine their searches.
   
• Public Data Search Feature (March 2010): A feature that makes it easy to find and compare public data from sources.
   
• Google Announces About Inclusion of Microdata in Descriptions (March 2010): Google announces about adding Microdata support for rich snippets, a part of HTML5 specification.
   
• Google Announces Page Speed/Site Speed To Be An Official Factor For Ranking (April 2010): Google search engine ranking for the slower sites might go down.
   
• Google Updates Real-Time Search Results (April 2010): Google integrates Real-Time Search into search result pages to provide updates from a comprehensive set of sources just as the stuff happens on the web.
   
• Long Tail Algorithm Change (May 2010): Google confirms in regard to an algorithmic change made looking for the higher quality sites, Google MayDay Update, that it impacts long tail traffic.
   
• Google Caffeine, A New Search Index, Made Official (June 2010): Google brings its new indexing engine, Caffeine, into action, which was rolled out on trial in August 2009. According to Google, it provides 50% fresher results for web searches than its last index and is the largest collection of web content they have offered.
   
• Real-Time Search Feature Launched (December 2010): By clicking on "Latest Results" or selecting "Latest" from the search options menu, a full page of live tweets, blogs, news, and other web content can be scrolled right on Google.

So, these are Google’s distinct updates for this year. This is what Google is appreciated about – a desire to evolve and leverage innovation to make information access easy and timely.