The way Google continually updates its algorithms is one of the reasons why Google is still on top. By modifying the algorithms, the company is able to provide better results for searchers and lower the rankings of pages that give less-than-desirable experiences. Every Google update means a shakeup of search rankings, which can be very good or very bad, depending on how it affects a particular site. A recent statement from a Google employee implies that marketers will probably see the next major update to Google Penguin within the next few months.
Google updates are big events for SEO marketers, so many pay close attention to know when updates take effect and how they will affect search results. The current buzz surrounding a Google update comes from statements made by Google employees that suggest the company is near completion and deployment of their next major update to the system.
“My guess is yes,” stated John Mueller in a Google Hangout session where he was asked if Penguin 3.0 will launch in 2014. “But as always, there are always things that can happen in between. I’m pretty confident we’ll have something in the reasonable future,” stated John Mueller in a Google Hangout section. “
This will be Google’s first major update to Penguin in nearly a year. This size and scope of the update separates it from the minor updates that Google does all the time. As was mentioned in another article on this site, Google updates hundreds of things each year on the algorithm, but these changes normally affect such a small percentage of sites, so Google doesn’t make a big deal about them. There are even cases when marketers make a big deal about updates that Google considers to be of less significance. This type of situation happened a couple of months ago when SEO marketers decided to name a small update to the algorithm, the Pigeon update, even though Google said the update wasn’t large enough to warrant a name of its own.
Little is known about the planned update, but there is at least one thing that should make webmasters happy. Based on the comments from a different Google Hangout session, it was implied that the next update will refresh much faster than previous update. This will be a godsend for websites who have faced a penalty and are waiting for a refresh to show they have fixed the issues on their site.
“We’re trying to speed things because we see this is a bit of a problem,” stated Mueller in a response to a question about the wait times. “Webmasters want to fix their problems, so they go in fix these issues, but our algorithms don’t reflect that in a reasonable time.”
While it’s impossible to say what else will change in the update, it’s a good idea to look at some of the things Google has mentioned in the past year. Often, things they warn webmasters about during the year because major components to future updates. In the past few months alone, Google announced a policy change that will boost the rankings of pages with HTTPS protection, warned webmasters about using guest posts simply for SEO purposes (though they already penalize for that somewhat, but it may get tougher), as well as changed the way they handled spammy keywords in certain kinds of search.
Google updates are big news for webmasters who depend on website ad revenue to support their business. Unfortunately, Google updates can put a website out of business if they aren’t paying attention to the new rules. However, if the new Penguin update refreshes quickly, there will be less damage for businesses that make the proper changes. More information on the update will be coming out over the next few months. We’ll post the latest info as it becomes available.