According to Google’s Gary Illyes, an update to the Penguin algorithm is still months away. The member of Google’s Trends Analyst team made the announcement this past weekend via Twitter. Google most recently updated the backlinks algorithm in October 2014 when it released version 3.0 (which affects about 1% of search queries). Penguin 1.0, designed to reward websites with high-quality backlinks and penalize websites with low-quality or purchased links, was initially released in April 2012 and remains a large part of the SEO formula.
According to Illyes, the update will attempt to work faster and update link and algorithm data more frequently. Although Illyes claims that the next version of Penguin is “still a few months away”, many industry experts believe it could be 2016 before an update is announced. In any case, those looking to stay on pace with Penguin can do so by continuing to add quality links back to their site and disavowing any poor links. Backlinks should be monitored frequently within Google Webmaster Tools to avoid a penalty/drop in your search performance.