As you know, we were by far the first to break the news on the February 7th Google update that seemed really big so big that I actually asked Google to confirm it which they said no comment. And when Google gives a no comment, that is where folks with lots of data come in.

Glenn Gabe posted his deep analysis of this update calling this update more like the Panda algorithm or Phantom update. Note, Google never confirmed any of the Phantom update and said they won’t confirm future Panda updates. So we are left thinking this is probably one of those or something new, but not related to links as I said originally but more related to content quality.

Search Metrics also post analysis of this calling this the Phantom 5 update. Of course, they have no way to confirm it was Phantom because Google wouldn’t comment on this February 7th update nor has Google ever called anything Phantom. Phantom, the name, I believe was made up by Glenn.

Glenn summarized this update as:

Search Metrics as:

I strongly recommend you read both analysis, they are incredibly useful. In short, they all talk about content quality and site usability as part of this past update.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.