Google Update Brewing? March 2013

The ongoing WebmasterWorld thread has a huge spike in chatter over the past 48 hours with speculation around an update.
In the past 48 hours or so there have been over 100 new posts in the thread, all around webmasters and SEO asking if there was some sort of update.


There was a Google attack on a link network recently, which may be related. Normally when Google breaks down a link network take some time, so sites would see the results (i.e. a downgrade in ranking) over the next few days.


But this may not be related to the link network crack down.
It seems many are suspecting a Panda update. We are indeed due a Panda update, it's been almost 7 weeks and we average a Panda update every 4 weeks or so.


Did you see signs of a Panda update?

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Beware: Google To Squash Another Link Network Very Soon

As I reported last night during my live blogging - but things get lost there - Google is going to punish yet another link network in the next week or two.
Which network? I do not know yet, but I am sure that information will surface via the SEO forums when it does happen.
Matt Cutts, Google's head of search spam, announced this last night during his SMX session. He said that in the next week or two, Google will go after yet another link network. He also confirmed they did target a link network a week or so ago, but did not name which network was targeted exactly.
Like I said in the past, I am still surprised webmasters with long term goals for their web sites participate in these networks. Google has continuously gone after link networks in the past, even dating back as early or before 2006.
What can you do to prepare? Well, it is a catch 22. If you remove your link network links, your ranking will decline. If you keep them, Google may penalize the network and your site anyway. Long term - work on adding real links to your site and remove those network links.

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           8 Weeks Later, Google To Release Panda #25

Mar 12, 2013 • 8:34 am | (7) by Barry Schwartz | Filed Under Google PageRank & Algorithm Updates

 

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As I reported in my live blogging last night and on Search Engine Land - Google's Matt Cutts announced a Panda refresh is coming this weekend. Either this Friday, March 15th or this Monday March 18th.
It has been 7 weeks since the last Panda refresh, version 24. So when this actually pushes out, it will be closer to 8 weeks since that last update.
We've speculated a few weeks ago that Google would go on with tradition and release a 4 week update at the end of February but that did not happen.
When it is officially released, we will give you all those details:

Past Google Panda Update:

• Panda #24 on January 22, 2013
• Panda #23 on December 21, 2012
• Panda #22 on November 21st
• Panda #22 on November 21st
• Panda #21 on November 5th
• Panda #20 on September 27th
• Panda 3.9.2 on September 18th
• Panda 3.9.1 on August 20th
• Panda 3.9 on July 24th
• Panda 3.8 on June 25th
• Panda 3.7 on June 9th
• Panda 3.6 on April 27th
• Panda 3.5 on April 19th
• Panda 3.4 on March 23rd
• Panda 3.3 on about February 26th
• Panda 3.2 on about January 15th
• Panda 3.1 on November 18th
• Panda 2.5.3 on October 19/20th
• Panda 2.5.2 on October 13th
• Panda 2.5.1 on October 9th
• Panda 2.5 on September 28th
• Panda 2.4 in August
• Panda 2.3 on around July 22nd.
• Panda 2.2 on June 18th or so.
• Panda 2.1 on May 9th or so.
• Panda 2.0 on April 11th or so.
• Panda 1.0 on February 24th

Forum discussion at Google+ and WebmasterWorld.


Kamal Aujla

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Google's Cutts: Next Generation Penguin Update Will Be Big

Last night, Google's head of search spam, Matt Cutts announced at SMX West (which I live blogged and reported at Search Engine Land) that a "next generation" of Penguin is coming in 2013.
This one should be big. I specifically asked, what will SEOs be talking about in 2013? What will be the next big Google algorithmic change that is the talk of 2013 amongst SEOs and Webmasters.
Matt did not mention the merchant quality algorithm but he did specifically say it might be the next generation of the Penguin update.
Matt said his team is currently working on it and this will be a big change to how Penguin works. So when it is released, sometime in 2013, I assume sooner than later, this will send some ripples through the SEO space.
This would technically be named Penguin 4. The last official Penguin release was Penguin 3 on October 5, 2012, which was over 5 months ago. In fact, we only had two updates to Penguin since it's original release on April 24, 2012:

• Penguin 1 on April 24, 2012
• Penguin 2 on May 24, 2012
• Penguin 3 on October 5, 2012

When will Penguin 4 happen? Again, Matt did not say, but if I had to guess, sometime in Q2 2013.

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Coming Soon: The Google Merchant Quality Algorithm - Google Algorithm update 2013

At the popular SXSW conference Friday, Google's head of search spam, Matt Cutts announced that Google will be soon going after bad merchants with a new algorithm targeted at lowering their rankings in Google.
Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land first covered this, quoting Matt's statement during his presentation.
Matt said:

We have a potential launch later this year, maybe a little bit sooner, looking at the quality of merchants and whether we can do a better job on that, because we don't want low quality experience merchants to be ranking in the search results.

Google Goes After Low Quality Merchants

Clearly, Matt is telling low quality merchants to be prepared for a possible downgrade in ranking. This may lead to a huge drop in traffic, sales and revenue for these online merchants.
This shouldn't come as a huge surprise. Back in late 2010 Google took action against really sleazy merchants that specifically provided "extremely poor user experience." Since then, not much has been done there and only a tiny fraction of merchants were impacted.

Matt Cutts Pre-Announces Second Major Algorithm: Penguin

In 2012, Matt did a similar announcement, where he pre-announced what we know today as the Google Penguin algorithm. Back then, Matt called it the over optimization penalty and it was announced at SXSW.
For some reason, it took a while for anyone to make a big deal of this announcement. Danny Sullivan wouldn't let that happen this time and he wrote about it as soon as Matt announced it.
When exactly will this Google Merchant Quality algorithm be released? Probably in the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2013. Trust me, when it does - we will be on top of it.
Forum discussion at Google+.

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Google to Announce Zebra Update? Read about Google's New Update 2013

Since the strikes of Panda and Penguin, the online world has been waiting with baited breath for the release of the next black and white monster.
There have been whisperings of skunks, orcas and magpies. But pandas and penguins aren't aggressive animals, and our sources from within Google have told us it will come from an altogether more placid beast...
Behold, The Zebra Update!

Looks menacing doesn't he?
But What Will The Zebra Update Target?
Panda hit on-site elements. Penguin mainly focused on off-site issues. Zebra is going to town on social...

• Too many retweets with keywords included around a link
• Facebook updates with too many shares from people not in your industry
• Any Google+ shares as this will look spammy (Google+ is a graveyard right, so any activity looks suspicious?!)
• Owning a Pinterest page - brands only use these for SEO benefit no?

If you've been creating great content which may be being shared extensively by people on the web, some of which might not be bloggers in your niche, then start looking over your shoulder. The Big G doesn't want anyone messing with their rankings.
It's time the social web started cleaning itself up, The Zebra Update is coming..

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