Google has released its most anticipated search algorithm update in its 16-year history. It’s called Penguin 3.0 and here’s what you need to know:
“When Wall Street sneezes, the world catches a cold.” – Anon
Google is the new Wall Street.
Not necessarily because of its economic impact on the marketplace (though a compelling case could be made for that). No, Google is the new Wall Street because every single action, suggestion or flutter of movement from this Californian-based tech company generates a torrent of interest around the world.
And when the company updates its core search algorithm, many businesses break out into a panic as they see their hard-won first place on the Google search page literally disappear overnight.
Well, Google has released a new update to its search algorithm…and here’s what you need to know about it.
The update has been dubbed “Penguin 3.0” because it’s the sixth release of the Penguin update released by Google on April 24th, 2012. And since Google referred to the fourth release as “Penguin 2.0”, here’s a table showing the various updates to Penguin, the dates of release…and importantly, the impact of each update on web search queries.
| Google Algorithm Update | Date Of Release | Impact On Search Queries |
| Penguin 1.0 | April 24th, 2012 | 3.1% of queries |
| Penguin 1.1 | May 26th, 2012 | Less than 0.1% of queries |
| Penguin 1.2 | October 5th, 2012 | 0.3% of queries |
| Penguin 2.0 | May 22nd, 2013 | 2.3% of queries |
| Penguin 2.1 | October 4th, 2013 | 1% of queries |
| Penguin 3.0 | October 17th, 2014 | 1% of queries |
With just over a year between Penguin 2.1 and Penguin 3.0, it’s not hard to see why this latest update has been one of the most anticipated algorithm updates in Google’s history.
But the real reason for the anticipation is because of the way that Penguin operates.
You see, back in October of 2013, Penguin 2.1 prompted millions of website owners to make changes to stay in Google’s ‘good books’. But having made the changes, they had to wait until the next update of the Google algorithm to see whether the changes they’d made met with Google’s approval; changes such as disavowing bad links and so forth.
Those that are approved are likely to see an increase in traffic following the release of Penguin 3.0. But at the same time, a number of sites may see a drop in Google search rankings. This isn’t because they’re out of line with the requirements of Penguin 3.0. Instead, it’s because the discounting of numerous disavowed links will affect the entire search ecosystem…and trigger a chain reaction in which those links don’t pass on “votes” to those sites.
Put another way, Google’s goal is to make it easier for users to find relevant websites to their search queries…and to make it difficult for irrelevant and invaluable “spammy” sites to appear high in the search results.
And so whilst this latest ‘sneeze’ from Google is bad news for websites trying to ‘game the system’, Penguin 3.0 could well be the update that launches a torrent of business for sites that focus on providing value.
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