Another Google Webmaster Central Office Hours was held today, and yes, John Mueller was asked about Penguin, and more specifically, whether the next Penguin update would happen in 2014.  Here was his response…

Will the Penguin 3.0 launch in 2014?  My guess is yes, but as always there are always things that could happen in between.  I am pretty confident that we will have something in the reasonable future.  But not today, so we will definitely let you know when things are happening.

Will we see it before the year anniversary of the last Penguin update?  Well, a few months ago, most of us would have said we would, but as the days tick down to the one year anniversary of the last Penguin update, it is starting to look not so certain.  So hopefully we will see something very soon or at the very least, by the end of the year.

But of course, it is all subject to change, but frankly, any glimmer of hope Penguin-sufferers get is better than silence!

There has been more Penguin news released recently, such as the information from Mueller regarding whether a Penguin refresh was required to see changes in search results.

Here is the video (he speaks about it at the 54:45 mark).

Hat tip to Marie Haynes, who hat tipped Chris Dyson and Wholesale Clearance.