This past weekend, Google unleashed Penguin 3.0 – the latest update to its algorithm – AKA a blooming big headache for SEO specialists worldwide.
Penguin 3.0 is the sixth (releases only go up in whole
numbers when they have a significant impact on queries) in a series of changes
made to Google’s algorithm, the first of which was launched in 2012, in order
to combat webspam and black hat SEO tactics.
SEO professionals have been anxiously waiting for the
release of Penguin 3.0 due to the major impact caused by the previous updates.
When you’re hit by Penguin, you usually have to wait until the next release
cycle to see if your changes have resulted in a positive impact on your search
engine performance, and many will have been waiting since the previous release
back in October 2013.
If their clean-up methods have been successful, they’re
likely to start seeing some improvement in traffic over the next few weeks. If
not, they will need to make further more changes and wait until the next
Penguin update. Now you can see why this causes such a headache!
It is important to bear in mind that whilst some websites
may experience declining search rankings they may not have been penalised by
Penguin. The Penguin update causes a huge amount of links to be discounted, so
the value that these links may have once had will no longer pass over.
So any websites that have received value from these links
may suffer a decline in visibility, even though the website has not been
penalised itself.
Confusing, hey? Welcome to our world!
Fortunately OWB’s team of caped crusaders are well versed in
tackling Penguin and the problems that arise from it. Who needs Bruce Wayne?
If you notice a drop
in traffic and/or search engine visibility, please call us immediately on 0121
766 6571.
We will perform a
free analysis to see if you have been hit by a Penguin penalty and advise you on
what you should do next.
