Has the Google Penguin Update Been Delayed Again?

Google has recently confirmed that the latest Google Penguin Update is still very much work in progress and that there are no indications available as to when it would be rolled out. This is despite an earlier statement indicating a rollout at the end of the first quarter of 2016.

Zineb Ait, a webmaster trends analyst at Google, responded to a question on Twitter asking when the Penguin update would be released.

Ait responded by saying that it was still a “work in progress,” and it will be rolled out “as soon as it is ready.” However, Ait could not indicate when that might be.

Google has hinted on multiple occasions that the latest Penguin update will be coming soon:

• 25th September 2015 — John Mueller, in a Hangout, indicated that we might see Penguin by the end of the year, but it may be delayed if things need to be fixed.
• 29th October 2015 — Google’s Gary Illyes has confirmed that there is still time to clean your backlink profile before the Penguin Algorithm is refreshed.
• 2nd November 2015 — Google Says that Penguin 4 should be Released this Year but “might not be real-time.”
• 24th November 2015 — Googles Gary Illyes confirms that the next Penguin update will be real-time.
• 9th December 2015 — John Mueller indicates that the Google Penguin Real-time update will not be launched until next year
• 4th January 2015 — Gary Illyes stated that the update is getting closer, but there was no definite date available.
• 21st January 2015 — Gary Illyes said that the new Penguin Algorithm would launch within weeks, but they cannot give a definitive time frame. They were aiming for the first quarter of 2016.

For those currently hit by the algorithm, it has been a long wait, with the last update back in December 2014. You can only imagine the frustration of being affected by a penalty, proceeding to sort out the issues, and then finding that you cannot recover your search rankings until Google rolls out a new update. Then, when you think an update will come soon, it is consistently put back, time, and time again. We wonder how many businesses have “gone under” because of this.