There is a lot of speculation about Google pushing Penguin updates without announcing them. But not to worry people, at least right now, a representative from Google says this is not true. On record the last time Google announced an update on the anti-spam filter, Penguin Update 3, was in early October, over four months ago.
This so called rumor seemed to have sprung from a Google Webmaster Hangout; a person asked Google’s John Mueller about Penguin Updates. The way he replied, led people to believe that Penguin is updated on a more regular cycle, and is not always announced. Check out the video yourself, and see if John gave off the impression of unannounced updates (skip to about four minutes in):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vaT0aie9Wqk#!
More people began to do more investigations and asked Google to comment on what John said. Google very commonly explained that John was simply taking about link analysis refreshes. They confirmed that the last Penguin Update was in fact over four months ago.
Just as a side note, the Panda Update is usually updated on a monthly basis. With this being said, we are due for a Panda Update within the next couple of days; so prepare your website, and make sure you have fresh, original content!
Here is just a short quick list of the most frequent Penguin Updates that affected some English language queries:
Penguin 1: April 24, 2012, affecting 3.1% of queries
Penguin 2: May 26, 2012, affecting 0.1% of queries
Penguin 3: October 5, 2012, affecting 0.3% of queries
The last Penguin Update, as you can see was on October 5th, 2012. The rumors and all the speculations that Google was releasing Penguin updates without announcing them have been disproved. Just because there hasn’t been a Penguin Update in over four months, does not mean you should slack on your link building. Never let your guard down! Remember: only link to strong reliable sites. DO NOT link farm, or buy sketchy links, which have no credentials or value. Prepare your website for the next Penguin Update, getting hit by this update will kill your rankings, and take a big job to clean up!
by Joe Giorgianni