For fellow SEO gurus and webmasters that noticed a slight shift over the Thanksgiving holiday, Google has confirmed that recent changes were a result of a continuing rollout of Penguin 3.0, and not a new, unannounced update.“The Penguin rollout is ongoing, and this is just the effect of that,” a Google representative told popular SEO website Search Engine Land when questioned about the unusually-delayed tremors.
The initial rollout of Penguin 3.0 impacted approximately 1% of search queries, and it is uncertain if those numbers will change after the “Thanksgiving Refresh” dust settles. Also, though shifts this late – the Penguin 3.0 update hit over six weeks ago – are unsettling to SEO experts, the shake up was accompanied by good news around the industry: for many sites, the Turkey Day changes resulted in recoveries, not penalties.