Google recently released Penguin 2.1 the latest update to the notorious algorithm that seriously disrupted the SEO world last year. Though this update isn’t likely to have a serious impact on page rankings, it’s causing a fair amount of confusion nonetheless.
For starters Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s Web Spam Team, announced the update on his Twitter feed saying:
Penguin 2.1 launching today. Affects ~1% of searches to a noticeable degree. More info on Penguin:googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2012/04/another-step-to-reward-high-quality.html.
This is exactly the kind of announcement Cutts recently said Google would not be making in the future. (Though he’s announced several updates since he announced that he wouldn’t…and has done so without explanation.)
What could be really confusing to SEOs is the fact that Google is referring to the update as Penguin 2.1. Most SEO watchers have been informally labeling Penguin updates as Penguin, Penguin 2, etc…With Google officially referring to the update as Penguin 2.1, this throws the unofficial naming scheme into chaos. (For a complete rundown on Penguin updates and how they got their names, check out this very thorough report from SearchEngineLand.com.)
Given the scope of this update, it doesn’t seem likely that most casino affiliates will be impacted by it. If you’ve been hit by Penguin 2.1/5, let us know in the CAP Forums.