Are there multiple Penguin Updates?

Yes. There is a Google Algorithm-Change with the codename “Penguin” or “Webspam” (called the Penguin Update or Webspam Update), which has been deployed at different times in different search markets and received multiple data refreshes.

On 05/22/2013 Google deployed the Penguin Update 2.0 worldwide, which consituted an independent algorithm change and not a data refresh.

The difference between “Update” and “Data Refresh” has been answered in our article, “What is the difference between an update and a data refresh?“.

Below, we have have an example of the Visibility index for a German-language domain on the German search market with an event-pin showing the update:

Sichtbarkeitsverlauf eines Penguin Updates
A: First deployment of the Penguin Update on the German search market (Penguin Update #1)

Each update to the databasis that makes up the Penguin Update is called a “Data Refresh” and increases the version number of the Penguin Update.

Please also see our Overview of Google Penguin Update iterations (data-refreshes).

09.02.2021