Google: Penguin Doesn't Use Machine Learning Within The Algorithm

Oct 11, 2016 - 7:50 am 4 by

google machine learning

When Google launched Penguin 4.0 some folks speculated that it was using some sort of machine learning (or RankBrain) to get better by itself. I mean, it sounds nice and all but no where in Google's announcement did it mention machine learning - and trust me - Google wants to use ML in their marketing and PR as much as possible.

Well, Google's Gary Illyes told Jennifer Slegg that Google is not using Machine Learning in Penguin. This was via a simple Twitter exchange where Jennifer asked "Is Penguin a machine learning algorithm, or use any kind of supervised or unsupervised learning?" Gary Illyes responded, in short, "nope."

I believe Rand Fishkin was one of the first to speculate that Penguin using ML:

But this is not true - I mean, if you believe Google - which I do.

Former Google spam fighter, Murat Yatagan, said Google does use machine learning to fight spam but you need to read the whole thing to get the context.

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

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: June 30, 2025

Jun 30, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Supports Fewer Structured Data, Not More Like Promised

Jun 30, 2025 - 7:51 am
Bing Ads

Microsoft Removed Over One Billion Ads & 475,000 Advertiser Accounts

Jun 30, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google

Google Tests AI Mode In Chrome Search Bar (Desktop & Android)

Jun 30, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google

PSA: Fan Out Queries Are Not In Google Search Console

Jun 30, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google Ads

New Google Ads Broad Match Experiments Testing

Jun 30, 2025 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Want To Stop Your Google AdWords Campaigns? Deleting Your Google Account Won't Help.