There has recently been a lot of confusion around the Panda algorithm, specifically if it is running monthly, in real time, or still manual. The answer, at least today, is that not only is the data for Panda manually updated but also Penguin.
Less are confused around Penguin, most believe Penguin is a manual update that Google reviews and pushes out. But Panda we thought was rolling out monthly and then there was some confusion if it was actually running and updating in real time or not.
John Mueller said in a Google+ handout yesterday at the 41:30 mark:
I think both of those algorithms [Panda and Penguin] currently are not updating the data regularly. So that is something for both of them, where we kind of have to push the updates as well.
Here is the video:
The truth is, Panda has not refreshed or updated in five and a half months, at least since October 24th whereas the Penguin updates last happened on my count on December 6th, which was over four months ago.
5.5 months for a Panda refresh is way too long. Penguin, well we are use to that torture. :)
Forum discussion at Google+.
Image credit to Woot Shirts
