We’ve been hearing about Penguin for some time now…
Along with the new year came updates from Google to their core ranking algorithm and with it, a lot of confusion for the SEO community. The new update release came with a surprise to some, as several SEO community members saw this update as Google’s rollout of the new Penguin.
Initially, the update caused controversy when Google informed the industry that the Panda algorithm is now part of the core ranking algorithm.
Since Google said the Panda algorithm is part of the core ranking algorithm, many assumed that the recent core ranking update may have set new Panda scores. Setting new Panda scores would essentially “free” some of the sites impacted negatively from the Panda algorithm.
Google denies the full update
However, this hasn’t been the case. In fact, Google has clearly denied the full Panda update. Gary Illyes of Google took to Twitter cheekily commenting, “The recent ranking fluctuations you noticed have absolutely nothing to do with Panda or other animals.”
The release has continued to cause some confusion among SEO experts. In addition to the Panda puzzlement, there is also bewilderment as to whether the core update was in fact a new update to the Penguin algorithm.
“Not penguin.”
Once again, Google employees have clarified these core algorithm changes are not a full update of Penguin. Trying to clear up the confusion, Gary tweeted a few days ago again that the update was to the “core algorithm. Not penguin.”
As clarified by Google employees, these core algorithm changes are not in any way related to the Penguin update. However, Penguin is still rumored to have been updated. Many webmasters and SEO experts have been expecting an update to Penguin to be released sometime this year. As such, these core algorithm updates are being mistaken to be the anticipated Penguin updates.
Google has insisted that the recent changes to the core algorithm are not related to Penguin. Google is most likely rolling out the Penguin update in phases, with one analyst saying the rollout is expected “in coming weeks.” Perhaps these core updates are just hints or parts of a bigger Penguin update. For now, there’s no reason to believe a new Penguin rollout has happened, but we’re watching for the change.
