Penguin 3.0 is the latest of Google's updates to its algorithm. It was officially released on October 17 and has already affected Google's search engine results page (SERP). Likewise, Penguin 3.0 has also affected SEO and how companies approach their search engine marketing strategy.

The thing is, Penguin 3.0 has had a much smaller impact than expected. In fact, Penguin 3.0 didn't actually change Google's search algorithm and has affected less search queries than any other Penguin update.

Here's the pattern of Penguin updates, according to a recent Search Engine Land article:

• Penguin 1.0 impacted 3.1% of queries
• Penguin 2.0 impacted 2.3% of queries
• Penguin 3.0 impacted less than 1% of queries

As you can see, each Penguin update affects less search queries than its predecessor. When Penguin first came out, it revolutionized SEO. Now, each update is just another small step down the same path.

If you're new to SEO and Penguin, here's a quick summary. Google releases two updates to its search algorithm every now and then. Panda updates affect content and Penguin updates affect external links. So if your website has spammy links, unnatural links, or replicating links, Penguin will negatively affect your SEO. If you link to a site that has been impacted by Penguin, then your site will be impacted too.

So while Penguin 3.0 probably won't affect your website (unless you fall into that 1%), it doesn't mean you should completely ignore the update. Now is a good time for you to go through your links and see if they may get punished by Google.

Remember, Penguin 3.0 was an update. If your company still has spammy or unnatural links and wasn't affected by this update, you will probably be affected by the next one. The only way to prevent this is through link cleanup.