In January, Google released the page layout algorithm, which penalized a small percentage of sites placing ads in annoying places on the web site.
A WebmasterWorld thread is asking if this is an algorithm that is run in real time or very frequently versus an algorithm run manually about every month or so, similar to Panda or Penguin.
Most believe it is more of an automated penalty run in more of a real time fashion. I do believe it is automated but I doubt it is run in real time, but I don't have any inside information on that. Just my gut feeling.
In any event, I have not seen any major concerns about this penalty and I have not seen any major public posts that sites have recovered. Either way, I do know of some sites who were directly hit by this update.
Do you? If so, take my poll:
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.