Prepare, A New Algorithm Update is Coming – SEO Buzz

This week: a myth about site traffic and links debunked, more chatter about an update, and you won't believe how many pages Google has removed from the SERPs over copyright claims.

Here's what happened this week in SEO.

GOOGLE HAS REMOVED 1.75 BILLION SITES FROM ITS INDEX OVER COPYRIGHT VIOLATIONS

Some ominous news this week for webmasters who don't take copyright issues seriously.

Google has removed 1.75 billion websites from its index because of copyright infringement.

By way of comparison, the number of copyright complaints that Google has rejected stands at a measly 39 million. Overall, copyright requests have risen by 53% year-over-year.

It's also worth noting that Google takes copyright issues very seriously and responds to complaints quickly. As of now, there are no pending requests.

Only the owner of the copyrighted content can contact Google with a request for removal. Google doesn't proactively de-index sites that violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Webmasters whose sites have been removed from the search results are notified via the Search Console.

GOOGLE WILL SHOW AMP RESULTS IN THE MOBILE SERPS THIS YEAR

We can't let a week go by without sharing some news about how Google is fully on board with Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), can we?

Later this year, AMPs will show up in the mobile SERPs.

That's a switch from the status quo because AMPs are currently stuck in the carousel at the top of the results list.

The bottom line here: AMP sites are going to receive more exposure in the organic results. That's just another reason why you should ensure that your website is AMP-ready.

Google is expected to begin showing AMP results in mobile SERPs within the next few months.

THERE'S MORE CHATTER ABOUT AN ALGORITHM UPDATE

It looks like the fat lady might be warming up with regards to the looming Penguin rollout.

There was some buzz this week on various SEO forums about significant fluctuations in rank. People weren't complaining about the usual "Google dance." Instead, they were reporting wild swings.

@rustybrick @JohnMu So there's been quite a bit of penguin site movement chatter today. Anything to share with us? 🙂

"We generally do not see swings like this unless a chunky general update rolls through – and we have never had any impact either way during the Panda/Penguin updates," wrote one commenter.

Another said: "Hope this all settles soon. We've seen a sizeable rankings boost across our 1500 tracked keywords in Australia from the 2nd of Sep update. It's been very turbulent ever since."

"Complete BS," said one cynic. "Rankings are just constantly going up & down. NEVER seen this before."

On Twitter, somebody asked Google's John Mueller if he had anything to share with the SEO community.

"Nothing specific, sorry — we're always working to improve things!" he replied.

Google will tell us what's going on when Google is ready.

GOOGLE DOES HAVE A LAUNCH DATE FOR PENGUIN 4.0

SEOs who are anxiously waiting for the next Penguin update are looking for a release date. This week, they learned that Google has a release date.

That's the good news.

The bad news: Google isn't announcing the release date.

@methode @JohnMu @rustybrick hahhaha…I am training it a lot but it doesn't like the food from Google nowadays..LOL…Any date for Penguin?

This week on Twitter, Google's Gary Illyes was asked the following question: "Any date for Penguin?"

His answer: "Yes."

So that wasn't exactly helpful. But at least we all know that there's a release date.

For the record: Google has been working on announcement for the upcoming Penguin release. That's why the conventional wisdom is that it's in the near future.

GOOGLE: MORE TRAFFIC DOESN'T MEAN THE SITE NEEDS MORE LINKS

Apparently, some SEOs are under the impression that if a site receives a lot of hits, it should have a lot of links. Google put that myth to rest this week.

During a Google+ hangout, somebody asked John Mueller the following question: "Would you say that the more traffic the site receives from google, the more links and recommendations should that site generate in order to stay ranking and move to a higher level?"

Mueller started his answer with this less-than-inspiring response: "I don't know."

He went on to revise and extend his remarks, though.

"Sometimes that happens naturally, sometimes that doesn't happen so naturally," he said. "I think that isn't necessarily related directly so it's not the case that we say. oh we send you this much traffic therefore we expect you to get more links over time because of that. That's usually not the way that it works."

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