Blix Interactive - Established 2001

Google continues to clean up search results

September 27th - Exact-Match Domain (EMD) Update

This update was a change in the way Google is handling exact-match domains (EMDs). Early indications show that low quality, keyword stuffed sites saw the brunt of this update, with many falling from a page 1 position to outside the top 100. Given the spammy nature of most EMDs this is a change for the better in our opinion.  

Further Reading:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/googles-emd-algo-update-early-data

http://searchengineland.com/the-emd-update-like-panda-penguin-expect-further-refreshes-to-come-135446

September 27th - Panda #20

Overlapping the EMD update, Google rolled out a fairly major Panda update that officially affects 2.4% of queries.

Further Reading:

http://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-20-15789.html

October 5th - Penguin #3

This was more of a refresh rather than update impacting only 0.3% of queries. Sites with spammy link profiles were in the firing line for this refresh.

Further Reading:

http://searchengineland.com/google-penguin-update-3-135527

9th October 2012 - Page Layout #2

Another refresh of an update that was originally released at the beginning of the year, this targeted pages with too many ads at the top of the page. This is an interesting update and presses home the need to deliver a positive user experience.

Further Reading:

http://searchengineland.com/google-page-layout-algorithm-update-135847

Was I Affected?

As long as you are using legitimate SEO tactics you should have no problems, however it is wise to take a look at your analytics and look for any significant changes in organic traffic around these dates. Any significant drop will indicate that you were hit by an update.

So what black and white creature will Google roll out next?  Well it's hard to know but it is clear Google is on an anti-spam mission.  Best to stay in Google's good books by following all the SEO best practices.