What is the Penguin Update?
Google launched the Penguin update in 2012 to aim to diagnose that website that was irrelevant or spammy websites.
Before the Penguin update, when the webpage was indexed and analyzed by Google, its score was determined on the basis of the volume link. Because of this, some websites with poor quality were ranked high than the organic search results.
Penguin update is a kind of code name for an algorithm update of Google; It decreases the ranking of the websites that follow Black Hat SEO or not following Google Webmaster Guidelines. By using Black Hat SEO people violate the links and using wrong techniques like keyword stuffing, cloaking to increase their ranking. These kinds of actions are as link schemes. Basically, Penguin Update was to take action against such webpages.
Necessity of Google Penguin
A lot of people were manipulating their search results through various techniques like black hat link building techniques. To tackle such manipulations Google rolled out the algorithm of Google Penguin update. its focus was to reduce the effectiveness of such techniques and to contain the greater role of such websites.
Some facts About Update
Google Penguin update is a major update for the search engine ranking algorithm.
Penguin is a site that helps to degrade the ranks of websites with poor quality links. This is important to maintain the trust of users on Google.
History of Google Penguin Update
Google Penguin Update 1.1
Google penguin update took place on 26 March 2012. This update took place to refresh the data of websites. Those websites which use mass keywords in a single page has it affects, article to attract visitors, a link that clearly signifies its purchase.
Google Penguin Update 1.2
This took place on 5 October 2012. The objective of this update was to refresh the data again. International queries were most affected and only a few English queries were affected.
Google Penguin 2.0
Like this, small businesses that adopt the ethical strategy for their website received a boost in Google search rankings.
Google Update 2.1
This update was rolled out on 4 October 2013 to check the spammy links of the websites.
Google Penguin Update 3.0
on 17 October 2014, Google penguin update affected all those websites which had been continuing utilizing spam links and escaped the previous updates.
Google Penguin Update4.0
This is the latest Google Penguin Update launched on 23 Sep 2016 and is one of the core algorithms. It devalued the spammy links. Its main focus was to promote the quality content and forbidding those businesses practicing unethical link building.
Factors that Affects Penguin Updates
Link spamming
The process of exchanging links with other’s websites is link spamming. Link exchange is like 2 sites are in confederation and operating just the same as a webring. By developing or purchasing backlinks from irrelevant or beside the point website to draw a picture of popularity than it actually is and to manipulate Google to give high rank to your site.
Google Webmaster registers their websites, that probably try to run to swap and as a twist, gets from the Exchange Html Code which is inserted in their webpages.
Reciprocal link
Not every kind of linking is unethical, As Google likes to link with each other and to relate with the content. There should be quality while linking with each other and the most necessary part is to take care of readers that what a blogger of a page refers them to read about the given content. Is it useful enough for the users?
For example- If a user links a post of A’s site & instead of linking back, user B (first user) has linked another post of A’s site. As there are 3 links involve together. That is famous as Reciprocal Linking.
How to determine if your website is affected by Google penguin
You can use google analytics tools to check if there is a drastic drop in traffic to your website. by using Google Webmaster tools, you can check your SERP impressions. If there is a huge drop in impressions then your company can become a part of Google’s penalty.
How to Recover from Google Penguin Update?
According to Google Webmaster’s Guidelines, one needs to remove all the spammy content including links, numbers, or any kind of spam you might have. If you have registered your website in Google, Google Webmaster may have sent you some warning in a few cases.
To know if your site is spammed or not; simply go to your website and if its is spammed, your site will be flagged by Google and if nothing has been flagged, it is obviously Penguin.
Correct your website as soon as possible..
Google Webmaster Central gives you the opportunity to file a Reconsideration Request.
Yet, Google will state that it is just an Algorithm change, or it is a penalty that Google has embedded. And if a human being discovers some spam at Google, it is Manual Penalty. So this is the reason why Google has stated that Reconsideration requests will probably not going to help in Penguin.
Create backlinks
You can use various tools that will help you in building the list of backlinks. Such tools are open site explorer, Webmaster tools, Ahrefs, etc. You should try to get data by using at least three tools so that it will help you in cross-checking your data. If you collect more data then there are fewer chances of missing the backlinks.
Analyze quality links
Your site could have a lot of unnatural links due to which it got penalized. So, it is very important to identify your spammy links and remove them. Avoid using those links which are from the poor website and from article directories. Don’t use links from unknown and fewer credible sources. Google penalizes those sites where the anchor text is used disproportionally and when links are not from indexed sites. Do not take decisions on links quickly, a great deal of attention is necessary to be paid on links and it is important to categorize them.
Create and Analyze the poor links
It is a good idea to create a spreadsheet of the links as it will help in reducing the confusion that which links are to be ke[pt or remove. The quality of links can be improved over time, so, a list of links will help you in improving your site. This list is also helpful when your site gets affected by the algorithm update.
Remove the low quality links
If you want to remove the links then you can use the Webmaster tool. You can ask them to remove the low-quality links and a lot of webmasters will contact you. Further, if you don’t receive any response then use Google disavow tool to remove such links. You should always make a request first to get your links removed and then follow the disavow tool. After you recover from this algorithm, always make sure not to get your site hit by the update again. Follow white hat practices only and that SEO which are acceptable according to the Google guidelines. It is very important to keep track of all your links daily.
Penguin Update Penalties
It is good not to follow those practices that are unethical in according to Google Webmaster Guidelines.
Why Google Penalize your site?
These are the factors that affect your website in penalizing.
Over Optimization-
A common cause of penalizing sites is over-optimization. For example, Filling your site with lots of links is a reason for spamming. Avoid this for the safety from penalty.
Keyword Stuffing
Writing in your own content is necessary but filling your site with too many keywords will only help you to penalize your site. Keyword stuffing should be minimum as such 2-3%. in a content of 100 words, there should be only 2 to 3 keywords not more than that.
To conclude, Copied Content-Content scraping is a big reason for penalizing a site full of unnecessary or copied content. Google considers these things as misleading the user. If you want your site to appear at the first page of the search engine results then develop unique content.
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CONCLUSION
Google updates its algorithm frequently to penalize various websites. You must make sure that your website doesn’t get affected by approaching a content-centric technique. you should build the authority of your company and promote your content on relevant websites to your target audience. Avoid using spamming links and focus on implementing ethical SEO techniques. Do not rely only on organic search results, you don’t know what can happen in the future. So. focus on other marketing strategies to generate leads.
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