A year ago today, webmasters and spammers (especially spammers) were rocked by un expected update from Google which has affectionately become known as Penguin.

Initially referred to as the “webspam update,” it didn’t take long for Google to give the name of another black and white animal to associate with the algorithm. The update was designed to algorithmically enforce Google’s quality guidelines, and dealt blows to numerous sites that did not abide. Of course not everyone affected believes they were truly doing anything wrong. The whole thing also sent waves of panic throughout the web, leading to excessive link removal requests.

There have only been two additional Penguin updates since the first one. One came in May, and the other in October. Google has indicated that another big one is on the way.

Peruse our coverage of Google’s Penguin update from the past year here.

Hat tip to Search Engine Roundtable for remembering the date.

Image via wanart, where you can purchase the wooden card, and send to your bitter SEO rivals if you like.