Google
Penguin 3.0
In brief
Penguin refresh rolled out slowly worldwide, more than a year after Penguin 2.1, letting cleaned-up sites recover while penalizing new abusive profiles.
Key points
- A refresh of Penguin rolled out slowly on a global scale.
- Comes more than a year after Penguin 2.1.
- Allows cleaned-up sites to recover and sanctions new abusive profiles.
- A long wait between two refreshes for webmasters.
Analysis
Penguin 3.0 is a data refresh more than an algorithmic overhaul. Rolled out slowly, it opens a recovery window for sites that have cleaned up their links since the previous cycle, while penalizing new manipulative profiles.
The spacing between refreshes, more than a year, illustrates the frustration of the time: a cleaned-up site could wait a long time before seeing its efforts recognized. This limitation would justify moving Penguin to real time with version 4.0.
What to do
- Finalize the cleanup and disavow of toxic links without waiting for a future refresh.
- Document the cleanup actions to measure their effect during the following cycles.
- Compare positions around October 2014 to distinguish recovery from a new sanction.
Impact
A recovery window for sites that cleaned up their links. A long wait for webmasters between refreshes.