Google: Penguin Recoveries Still Rolling Out But Should Be Done Very Soon

Google has said the Penguin changes you've been seeing, and many of you are seeing recoveries especially recently but those fluctuations and changes should all settle down soon. Gary Illyes from Google said this morning on Twitter that the Penguin 4.0 roll out that started and the recovery of Penguin 3.0 stage that started last Wednesday is just about done rolling out. He said it is in the "final stage" and "would take a few more days." Once this stage is done, "then it won't be noticeable anymore" he added, saying "it's working" and that is it. He also added the jumps and changes people are seeing now are just the normal fluctuations...

Google About To Reopen Map Maker, Largely Outsourcing Moderation

After the recent rash of map vandalism and other map mischief that caused Google to shut down Map Maker, the company is getting ready to reopen it. Simultaneously Google is instituting a new moderation procedure that will rely more heavily on community moderation than on in-house Google personnel. Google observed in support of the new approach, “We have come to the conclusion that of all the defenses available to keeping our maps clean, the interest of a community of well-intentioned users, is among the most reliable and fast.” Google announced today that the tool will see a phased reopening, starting early next month. Google will also...

Google Says Penguin Refresh Months Away From Happening

Google's Gary Illyes reminds us that the Penguin algorithm refresh is still months and months away, as Google works to make Penguin run in real-time. Gary Illyes from Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst team said over the weekend on Twitter that the Google Penguin refresh won’t be happening for some time. Gary Illyes said the Penguin update/refresh is “months away.” This is not completely shocking, being that at SMX Advanced Gary told us that Penguin currently runs slowly but they are working on making it run faster. Back then, Illyes said this this kind of change is months away and that is what Google has been working towards. Google is...

Top 5 Issues Wrecking Local SEO For Multi-Location Businesses

Columnist Marcus Miller presents his comprehensive guide for ranking well in local search when you are managing multiple business locations. Brands and large, multi-location businesses are horrible at local SEO. That is a bit of a generalization, of course, but it certainly represents my experience working with larger multi-location businesses in the U.K. If you have a recognized brand with a local presence, your general authority should make ranking in local search results somewhat easier; yet all too often, this is not the case. The purpose of this post is to outline the key areas for brands, franchises and multi location businesses to...

Google Pigeon Update Rolls Out To UK, Canada & Australia

Google has confirmed that their local Pigeon update, which rolled out in the U.S. on July 24, 2014 has now expanded over last week to the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. After questioning Google about rumors of this change, a Google spokesperson told us, ” I can confirm that this update has rolled out to the UK, Canada and Australia.” BrightLocal first spotted the changes and asked if Google did roll out the Pigeon update beyond the US. They were indeed right. The original Pigeon update aimed at providing a more useful, relevant and accurate local search results that are tied more closely to traditional web search ranking signals. This...

Google: Penguin 3.0 Rollout Still Ongoing

Google has confirmed with us that the shifts and changes reported throughout the industry on Thanksgiving day were a result of the Penguin 3.0 refresh that first began rolling out 6-weeks ago. Google told us in response to what we saw on Thanksgiving day, “the Penguin rollout is ongoing, and this is just the effect of that.” The interesting part was that Google began the rollout of Penguin 3.0 on October 17, 2014, which was 45 days ago, or over six-weeks ago. For this to still be rolling out is unusual, I would think. In addition, many sites that reported changes on that Thanksgiving, only saw recoveries. Meaning, it looked like somewhat...

Learning SEO From Google Employees

As should be the case with any SEO professionals, we’re constantly on the lookout for new information and ideas that can aid us in helping our clients improve their results. While at a recent event, we had the luxury of speaking with Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Pierre Far. The conversation sparked us into looking further into Google itself as a source of knowledge for how best to “win” at the local SEO game. From live conversations to published tips, blogs and videos, we’ve gleaned some useful insights from a variety of Google employees. While each person looked at local SEO from a different angle, there were two very consistent themes...

Matt Cutts: Being Google’s “Lightning Rod” For Unhappy SEOs Might Not Be Productive

Last week, the head of Google’s web spam team Matt Cutts announced that he was extending his leave. Now, Cutts has opened up a bit more about it, further suggesting he won’t return. Cutts also suggested that having himself or anyone be a public face for Google in terms of publisher issues might not be a good use of time, because that role tends to be a “lightning rod” that attracts negative energy. Cutts made his comments while participating in “This Week in Google” yesterday. Host Leo Laporte asked Cutts about his current leave and if he would go back to the same role at Google. From Cutts roundabout response, it doesn’t sound like returning...

Google AutoCorrects: Penguin 3.0 Still Rolling Out & 1% Impact

As you already know, Google launched Penguin 3.0 late Friday. But yesterday, Google's John Mueller said he believed the roll out was complete but then hours later stepped back on that. Today we learn from Google's Pierre Far on Google+ that the roll out is far from complete, that it is still rolling out and will so for the "next few weeks." Pierre said, "it’s a slow worldwide rollout, so you may notice it settling down over the next few weeks." Pierre also confirmed, once again, the rollout began "last Friday," but added that it "affecting fewer than 1% of queries in US English search results." He also stated the obvious about any algorithm...

Google Penguin 3.0 Done Rolling Out

Late Friday night, Google began rolling out Penguin 3.0. Google's John Mueller said in a video hangout minutes ago that the roll out is now complete and fully done. So the rankings should stick around Penguin until they run another Penguin refresh. John Mueller said 46 minutes and 35 seconds in that as far as he knows it has rolled out completely. But he wouldn't add if more signals were updated in the algorithm or if it was just a refresh. I've been trying really hard to get more details from Google around this Penguin 3.0 update and will continue to bring you facts from Google and the industry around Penguin. Google Penguin Updates: Google...