At SMX Next yesterday I have the privilege of interviewing Hyung-Jin Kim, the Vice President of Google Search. Hyung-Jin Kim has been working on search quality for the past 20 years and leads up core ranking at Google Search. He mentioned a few times during the interview the animal Coati and I had to ask what he was referring to. I covered this as well at Search Engine Land but I need to make note of it here as well.

Hyung-Jin Kim said Coati is not just another black and white animal, like Panda or Penguin, but is what Panda evolved into. Yes, Google’s Panda algorithm update turned into a new update, an updated Panda algorithm, Google internally code-named Coati. I was taken back, you can watch the SMX keynote in playback mode to see my reaction because I have never heard the name Coati before. But he mentioned it a couple of times and I had to ask him what he was referring to.

He told us that yes, Panda was “consumed” into the larger core ranking algorithm as we covered in 2016. But before that, I guess, “Panda has been subsequently replaced by Coati.” Coati was a successor to Panda, he said Coati is an update to the Panda algorithm and what Panda evolved into.

I followed up to ask if Coati might be considered what we call these “core updates” but he said no, Panda and Coati are part of the core ranking algorithm but are not specifically a core update algorithm.

I highly recommend you watch the SMX keynote interview that I did with Hyung-Jin Kim of Google. If you don’t want to, then read Lily Ray’s recap at Search Engine Land.

Again, just to be clear, there is nothing new going on here outside of just some history about Google algorithm updates that we did not know until today. But there is nothing to act on with this history lesson.

Here is some of the reaction from the SEO community around this unknown algorithm:

And we had no idea that happened. 🙂 Coati was the successor to Panda. Panda is part of Google’s core ranking algo now (as of Jan 2016). It’s not the same as medieval Panda, but still there (just now Coati). https://t.co/cIqGSx2CyP

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 15, 2022

Some great nuggets of information in that interview. Coati, E-A-T, HCU, and EXPLORE, which I just covered again today on SER. I was like, *exploratory*…??? What? 🙂 pic.twitter.com/l95gZTHJnN

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 15, 2022

I had to Google what a Coati was 🦝 🙂 but, interesting to learn Panda algo itself has evolved and has been consumed into the larger core ranking algorithms. @smx Next https://t.co/qdYeRwbwPa

— Holly Miller Anderson | Marketing, SEO, Growth (@millertime_baby) November 15, 2022

Just heard on @smx about Panda “evolving” into Coati. Google’s Algos are always being updated and therefore evolving, but this interview by @rustybrick of Hyung-Jin Kim is the first I have heard of the name Coati. #SEO https://t.co/0LZurP2Yhh

— Boyd Lake SEO (@boydlake) November 15, 2022

At the SMX 2022 Keynote Hyung-Jin Kim, the VP of Search at Google, explained, that Panda was replaced by an update to Coati. Coati is a new version of Panda and part of the core ranking algorithm. Summary by @lilyraynyc >> https://t.co/ia2fwgZoXV

— Oᒪᗩᖴ KOᑭᑭ ✌️🔥 (@Olaf_Kopp) November 16, 2022

That was so good!
The new algo HJ mentioned was “Coati”. Can’t wait to dig into this more!https://t.co/T666eEK87M

— Dr. Marie Haynes🐼 (@Marie_Haynes) November 15, 2022

Not gonna lie; it is actually stinkin’ cute.

— AJ Ghergich (@SEO) November 15, 2022

Forum discussion at Twitter.