April 1 – Pelican Update?
Google announced this morning that it is in the process of rolling out an entirely new update to the algorithm, this one called “Pelican.” The update will target mainly sites that have had a monopoly on the top search results for a long time.
“The idea is to create disparity,” said a representative from Google earlier. “Preventing one site from having a monopoly creates a fresh experience for users and stops web developers from being too complacent.”
Pelican is currently rolling out in Australia and Asia, according to Google. It is expected to hit the United States within the next day or two.
Our research shows that webmasters whose sites show in results on pages 1-2 of Google should be wary of the coming changes.
Matt Cutts, after receiving flack from the tech community for his decision, defended his thought process. “I commissioned this update from my beach chair after I saw a pelican fly by,” he told sources. “It seemed so happy and carefree, and I thought we could all learn a little something from that attitude. So I’m flipping the search results on their heads. Just roll with it.”
While some say that Cutts’s vacation seems to have changed his thought process and dedication to perfecting search results as much as possible, others are excited about the change.
Sally Jones, CEO of Sally’s Silly Soaps, told several SEO blogs of her excitement. “I can’t wait to outrank Dove, St. Ives, and other huge brands!” she said. “It’s like going back to the roots of America – these little Ma and Pa shops are what our whole economy was built on.”
Sally’s Silly Soaps, based in Eugene, Oregon, is a business Sally runs out of her basement that features soaps with “unusual colors and scents.” Representatives for Dove and St. Ives could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
It’s safe to say that the rest of the week will likely lead to chaos in the SEO community, and that webmasters will be scrambling to figure out new ranking signals to get their big clients back on track.
If there’s one thing we can all take from the news of Pelican’s rollout, however, it’s not to take anything you see on the internet at face value.