Google: Penguin Refresh May Come As Early As Next Week

Google’s Gary Illyes, Webmaster Trends Analyst and Search Quality Engineer, said at Search Marketing Expo East that Google may be launching a Penguin algorithm refresh sometime next week. This is not just a refresh, but a large re-write of the algorithm that took Google almost a full year to release.

Of course, it may not be launched, if they run into issues during their testing phase. But if things go smoothly, Google may launch the next generation Penguin update.

The new Penguin update will make webmaster’s life “easier a bit” and for most people it will make it a “delight.”

Google could have done a Penguin update more frequently, but they want to push out an update that makes both webmasters and users happy. So they are working hard on making both happy.

Gary also said that if you disavow bad links now or as of about two weeks ago, it will likely be too late for this next Penguin refresh. But Gary added that the Penguin refreshes will be more frequent because of the new algorithm in place.

So we may or may not see a next generation Penguin update next week. We will keep you posted on that news.

Image credit to Steve Boymel who shared the picture of Google’s Gary Illyes at SMX.

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Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on social media at @rustybrick, +BarrySchwartz and Facebook. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio and disclosures, click over here.