Each year, Google changes its search algorithm around 500–600
times. While most of these changes are minor, Google occasionally rolls
out a "major"
algorithmic update (such as Google Panda and Google Penguin)
that affects
search results in significant ways.
For search marketers, knowing the dates of these Google
updates can help explain changes in rankings and organic website traffic
and ultimately
improve search engine optimization.
The first Penguin update in over a year began to roll out on Friday, October 17th. Pierre Far tried to clarify
Penguin 3.0’s impact, saying that it affected less than 1% of
US/English queries, and that it is a “slow, worldwide rollout”.
Interpreting Google’s definition of “percent of queries”
is tough, but the original Penguin (1.0) was clocked by Google as
impacting 3.1% of US/English queries. Pierre also implied that Penguin
3.0 was a data “refresh”, and possibly not an algorithm change, but, as
always, his precise meaning is open to interpretation.
many reputable people and agencies are reporting Penguin hits and recoveries, so that begs the question – why doesn’t their data match ours
signs are suggesting that Google’s promise that Penguin 3.0 “will delight many” are coming true: several of the websites we’ve won for Penguin recovery
projects since the last updates are showing substantial increases in
Google organic traffic this morning.
We all hope that after the update only high-quality sites will appear on Google’s first page. But, with Google you never know... ;)
