Starting October 17, 2014, Google has started rolling out the Penguin 3.0 update. This is a worldwide algorithm update which will take a few weeks to complete. So Webmasters might have to wait a little longer before the update is complete for their language, and they see changes in the ranking of their websites.
A few weeks back Google had indicated that this update was coming. Since then Webmasters and SEO experts across the world has been eagerly waiting for the update. This was much awaited because it comes after over a year since the last Penguin 2.1 update. Google was very quick to release for updates to the original Penguin 1.0 update within just 1.5 years. So naturally a gap of over one year had created a lot of suspense and speculation amongst the Webmaster community about the possible date of release and the content of the update.
The chronology of the Penguin updates released by Google previously and the number queries of affected are as follows:
• April 24, 2012: Penguin 1.0 (~3.1% of queries)
• May 26, 2012: Penguin 1.1 (less than 0.1%)
• October 5, 2012: Penguin 1.2 (~0.3% of queries)
• May 22, 2013: Penguin 2.0 (2.3% of queries)
• Oct. 4, 2013: Penguin 2.1 (around 1% of queries)
• October 17, 2014: Penguin 3.0 (around 1% of queries)
The impact of the updates on the search queries are measured by Google only for the English language. However, this update is being released worldwide, and queries in other languages are also expected to get affected in varying percentages.
What this update brings in:
Google releases the Penguin updates to check whether websites are adhering to its content and linking guidelines. The entire exercise is aimed towards improving user experience. It detects websites which junk content and questionable links in order to boost their rankings.
Penguin 3.0, as confirmed by Google is a refresh of its algorithm. There was no mention of any new ranking signal is being added or the existing ones upgraded in a big way. Hence this refresh will feature a rerun of the algorithm which will reject the compliance to the Google guidelines by the websites. Hence, the entire exercise is being carried out to update search results with a fresh review of the content and links profile of the websites.
The expected impact of Penguin 3.0:
Penguin 2.1 detected many websites which didn’t comply with Google’s guidelines related to content and links. Those sites were blacklisted and demoted by Google. If those websites have cleaned up their act, Penguin 3.0 will detect that and of them from the blacklist. Those sites can expect an improvement in rankings.
For the other websites whose content and links are deemed by Google to be inappropriate, can expect to get freshly blacklisted. Those sites will see a demotion in ranking. Webmasters of those websites will have two take appropriate measures to comply with the guidelines and wait for the next Penguin update will be released in order to get an improved ranking.
Author Bio: Sophia Smith is a consultant, working as a part of Submit2Rank, a SEO company. She is highly experienced, with around 10 to 12 years of experience in digital marketing. She earned good number of success in her career by offering online marketing solutions to her clients.