If you are wondering why you have been observing unusual traffic states throughout the past few weeks, it might probably because of Google Penguin. Day 45 or so since the Penguin 3.0 first started rolling out, and it is still going on. This makes it a very significant update since the 2.0 iteration last year, although the exact toll on the total percentage of queries is still unclear.
The original filter was introduced in 2012 and it was designed to target sites deemed to be spammy, especially those violating Google's guidelines regarding link-building. Google has improved this filter and the Penguin 3.0 is said to be much more efficient.
What is Penguin?
The basic idea is to bring up quality content on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) rather than content that has good SEO. Penguin is conceptually focused on removing webspam and sites that use 'black hat' SEO techniques, such as cloaking, keyword stuffing, hidden texts, etc. Unethical tricks, in other words.
If you got hit by Penguin, then you are in trouble. It means Google doesn't like your site! And it's that serious. You seriously need to think over some things, because chances are, you are spamming or tricking users in some way even you might not realize. Don't worry though. While difficult, recovery is possible.
Why the long roll-out?
Google began the roll-out of Penguin 3.0 on October 17, 2014, which was 45 days ago, or over six-weeks ago. It is very unusual for it to be still rolling out. In addition, many sites that reported changes on Thanksgiving, only saw recoveries. Meaning, it looked like somewhat of a reversal of the Penguin 3.0 roll-out that happened in October.
The results for this roll-out, however are still unclear. The Penguin 3.0 roll-out initially impacted about 1% of queries.
One possible explanation for this is that Google has been working on the update constantly to cover up potential pitfalls, or they might have noticed some flaws in the algorithm that could have adversely impacted traffic for a lot of sites. Hence, they saw fit to carry on the update with tweaks to make it better.
Whatever the reason, it is unprecedented, and goes on to show how messy this whole affair could be for webmasters. But perhaps it is for the greater good.
If you have have been impacted by Penguin 3.0, do let us know what sort of impact have you noticed - positive or negative? Do you think Google should constantly keep rolling out search filters like this?
