The forums and SEO community has been buzzing all weekend about major shifts in the Google search rankings. Some are 100% positive it is the final roll out of Panda 4.1 while others are saying Google is rolling out Penguin 3.0.
I am honestly not sure if it is either. There are people who are saying their Panda sites have recovered over the weekend and there are people who said they are 100% sure it is a Penguin update. For one thing, Google has currently not confirmed any algorithm update with me over the weekend. I'll try to get something on record.
Over the weekend, the WebmasterWorld -Panda thread sparked up as did the WebmasterWorld - Penguin thread. Here are some quotes:
Panda Quotes:
I think it's just finishing. This weekend I might have been hit. It's been a very bad weekend.
And there we go again.
Friday night I was hit again; I do not know if it's Panda or another algo.
Penguin quotes:
Pretty sure they are at least testing penguin right now. Seeing some big movements.
If it's rolling out, then I guess it's no lube again. Another downward plunge.
The comments in both my Penguin posts are pretty on fire with people saying Panda or Penguin is refreshing now also.
Marie Haynes posted on Twitter that she sees nothing regarding Penguin but one of her Panda clients recovered a lot of traffic over the weekend. She also shared this graph:
The various tracking tools do show higher volatility over the weekend:
Again, I do not have confirmation on Google about any algorithm update yet but I can tell you the comments and forums are pretty wild right now. This normally means Google is or has launched something.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld - Panda and WebmasterWorld - Penguin.
Update: Google's John Mueller told me in a hangout this morning that Penguin was not launched yet.
Update #2: Google told me Panda 4.1 is still rolling out.
Image credit to BigStockPhoto for panda & penguin
