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Update: This is now official, Google tweeted that there won't be any new Panda updates until after the holidays. Google tweeted it several hours after we posted this assumption here. I'll embed the tweet at the bottom of this post.
It has been almost a month since the last official Google Panda update, which we named 3.1 and took place on November 18th.
Since then, we had some rumors of updates and fluxes but nothing confirmed from Google.
When I was at Google the other week, I asked if there were any updates. Matt Cutts didn't seem to know off the top of his hand but I know for a fact he has not announced anything since.
I assume at this point, Google will hold off on any major updates to both the search results algorithms and Panda algorithm. They do not want to cause a repeat of the Florida update at the most sensitive time for online retailers or shoppers.
There is a WebmasterWorld thread discussing the lack of Panda updates recently.
Here is the timeline of Panda updates, as you can see, there has been a major gap now since 11/18.
Panda Updates:
- Panda 3.1 on November 18th
- Panda 2.5.3 on October 19/20th
- Panda 2.5.2 on October 13th
- Panda 2.5.1 on October 9th
- Panda 2.5 on September 28th
- Panda 2.4 in August
- Panda 2.3 on around July 22nd.
- Panda 2.2 on June 18th or so.
- Panda 2.1 on May 9th or so.
- Panda 2.0 on April 11th or so.
- Panda 1.0 on February 24th
For more on Panda, see our Google Panda category.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Image credit to ShutterStock for holiday panda.
The Tweet:
Here is the tweet:
Search weather report: no major Panda updates until the new year. Context: goo.gl/XqLuN
— A Googler (@google) December 14, 2011
