Google Updates Webmasters On Panda and Penguin

At the SMX Advanced conference on Tuesday, Google’s Gary Illyes made some comments about what webmasters will be able to expect from Google with regards to its Panda and Penguin updates in the near future.

April saw Google’s transparency being called into question again in light of mixed messages it had been sending about both updates – both of which can have devastating impacts on businesses who meet their negative sides. Google had suggested that having to wait months between the updates would not happen any longer, but later indicated the opposite. This matters because businesses and websites impacted by them have to wait until Google runs them again before they have any hope of getting their search rankings back after making changes to try to get back in Google’s good graces.

So what’s the latest?

SMX-affiliated industry blog Search Engine Land recaps Illyes’ comments on both algorithms. He reportedly said that the next Panda update will happen in the next two to four weeks. SEL’s Barry Schwartz reports:

Illyes referred to it multiple times as a data refresh, not an algorithmic change. So sites that have been suffering from this algorithm may see a recovery in the near future. However, not all sites will see a recovery: Some may not recover, and new sites may also be hit by this data refresh.

Illyes also reportedly reiterated that Panda still requires manual updates, so it won’t run by itself over time. It sounds like webmaters and businesses will just have to continue to wait on Google for a chance to recover, and it also sounds like this may never change.

Regarding Penguin, Illyes apparently didn’t indicate that an update or refresh is immediately on the horizon, but said they are trying to make that one run continuously, which would be great news for those impacted by it. Unfortunately, it will probably be “months” before that happens.

The last Penguin update was launched in Q4, and Google indicated that it would pretty much continue indefinitely. It would seem that this wasn’t quite the case, even if that is still Google’s ultimate goal.

Image via @mattcutts