Google: No Comment On Rumors Of Killing Penguin & Many Link Signals

Nov 16, 2015 - 7:42 am 6 by

Chalkboard4 PenguinHappy Google 640

Late last week, Robert Ramirez posted on the Bruce Clay blog huge speculation around Google killing off the Penguin algorithm and many of the signals around links in the algorithm. Gary Illyes from Google responded on Twitter saying he won't comment on speculation, which I interpret as this post on the BC blog is a bit over the top. Gary often comments on speculation, so for him not to even give this the time of day, to me, means it is pure rubbish.

What is the speculation? Robert wrote:

TL;DR – A theory: The next Google Penguin update, expected to roll out before year’s end, will kill link spam outright by eliminating the signals associated with inorganic backlinks. Google will selectively pass link equity based on the topical relevance of linked sites, made possible by semantic analysis. Google will reward organic links and perhaps even mentions from authoritative sites in any niche. As a side effect, link-based negative SEO and Penguin “penalization” will be eliminated.

Gary responded:

I agree, this seems wrong and truth is, when Penguin 4.0 is released, I don't think we will see much difference in the algorithm outside of it running in real time and continuous.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google Updates

Google December 2025 Core Update Intense Impact Early

Dec 14, 2025 - 7:35 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: December 12, 2025

Dec 12, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google December 2025 Core Update, Discover Alignment To Rankings, Search Console Features, AI Mode Updates & More

Dec 12, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google Maps

Google Gemini Local Results In Visual Formats

Dec 12, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

Google On AI Max Inferred Intent vs Raw Text

Dec 12, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Maps Share Button Drops X For Reddit & Facebook

Dec 12, 2025 - 7:31 am
 
Previous Story: Google Speed Dating To Breed Smarter Googlers