If the latest comments from Google about a pending Penguin update are to be be believed, webmasters will find the update just delightful. In all seriousness, it does sound like it will be a little better for those affected, but obviously time will tell.

Do you expect the coming Penguin update to be a delight? Let us know in the comments.

Last month, Google said a new Penguin update would likely be launched before the end of the year, and now it looks like it may be here as early as next week. Maybe. MAYBE!!!!!! But really, maybe not. But still, maybe!

This has been the basic narrative coming out of SMX East, whereGoogle webmaster trends analyst Gary Illyes spoke, and reportedly suggesting that the company “may” launch a new update, described as “a large re-write of the algorithm,” sometime next week.

Barry Schwartz from SMX sister site Search Engine Land covered Illyes’ comments, reporting:

The new Penguin update will make webmaster’s life “easier a bit” and for most people it will make it a “delight.”

Gary also said that if you disavow bad links now or as of about two weeks ago, it will likely be too late for this next Penguin refresh. But Gary added that the Penguin refreshes will be more frequent because of the new algorithm in place.

That’s probably where the “delight” part comes in. Webmasters and SEOs have been very frustrated with the Penguin update not only because of the havoc it wreaked on their sites, but at the time it takes for Google to refresh the data, giving them a shot to get back into the rankings.

Schwartz’s report went out of its way to repeatedly suggest that the update may or may not come next week, but made it sound like it most likely will. Then, it started to seem less likely. Kind of.

Illyes seemed to poke fun at his report on Google+, saying, “I love how you guys twist ‘soon’ into this.”

He did however, also say, “Hey, maybe next week.”

Schwartz posted a follow up report on is personal blog, saying:

So what did Gary say on stage yesterday? People don’t believe that it may come next week. He did not say it WILL come next week. He said that based on internal communication from two weeks ago, the decision maker on if and when the algorithm will be pushed live, said that it will be live in weeks. Since that was about two weeks ago, we asked if weeks meant a “few weeks” and if so, that would mean Penguin would be released in a week from now. He said, with a smile, it may be released next week. You can also see Gary’s comments about my coverage on these two posts on Google+. But he clarified, if the tests show issues, then they won’t push it out.

In the end, when it comes probably doesn’t matter that much because it’s definitely coming, and it’s definitely coming soon. Something tells me you’ll hear about it when it hits.

What matters more than the when is the what, and it does sound like the what is going to be much more bearable than previous Penguin updates, which have left webmasters and SEOs scratching their heads in anticipation of another refresh that could help them recover lost rankings. It sounds like the long waiting game is about to be eliminated, bringing the Penguin update more on par with the Panda update, which is much more frequently refreshed.

To get you through until the next wave of Penguin hysteria, here’s what people are saying about Penguin in real time:

Are you looking forward to the new Penguin? Share your thoughts about it in the comments.

Note: This article has been updated from its original form to include additional information.

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