A complete Guide to Know About Google Penguin update

To enhance the SEO services further, Google released another update following in the footsteps of Panda update. This update was called Google Penguin update. This penguin update in SEO was another attempt from Google to provide the user with a better search experience. Furthermore, the Penguin update is an important and integral part of the 25 unforgettable updates of Google over the 25 years of Google. 

What is Penguin Update?

The Penguin update was released by Google in the year 2012 with a focus on reducing the occurrence of sites in SERP that were using black hat SEO strategies for manipulating search results. 

Over time Penguin algorithm received 10 updates till 2016 after which it became a part of the core algorithm of Google in the year 2017. This Google Penguin algorithm when first rolled out had impacted around 3.1% of websites in the English language. 

Releasing this Penguin algorithm was Google’s stance on reducing the number of manipulative link-building practise and reducing the spam sites with low-quality content from being visible in the search results. However, when first released, the Penguin update was termed a ‘webspam algorithm update’, and later on termed as Google Penguin update. 

Why was the Penguin update needed?

Google has been fighting against the low quality web content and the Panda update was its step towards it, then with the Google Penguin update the next step was marked to reduce the low quality content appearance in search results. 

The main objective of this Penguin update was to get more control and reduce the effectiveness and black hat SEO, and spam strategies. The Penguin algorithm ensured that organic, natural, and authoritative links and websites were rewarded while downgrading the spam, manipulative websites and links. 

Moving on, let’s have a look at the two major reasons of introducing the Penguin update:

• Keyword stuffing: certain web pages to get higher rankings in the SERPs were stuffing keywords out of context and relevance. This was creating confusion and chaos among users as they were not getting relevant and appropriate content. To reduce the occurrence of such web pages in search results. 

• Low quality links: to make your web page rank higher, certain web pages create backlinks with low quality and irrelevant content web pages which clutters the search results. 

To reduce the occurrence of such spam results in the SERPs the Penguin update was released by Google and then later on integrated the penguin algorithm in its core algorithm as well. 

How does the Penguin algorithm work?

Now that we have established the basics of the Google Penguin update, let’s have an understanding of how this update works.

The penguin update crawls the backlinks on websites and assigns a specific score to each of these backlinks. Here are some of the backlinks that Penguin Update will focus on:

• Untrustworthy backlinks from unreliable sources 

• Backlinks developed by bots 

• Irrelevant site backlinks 

• Bought backlinks

• Backlinks with similar anchor text

How to identify if you are hit with the Penguin update?

As mentioned in the blog above, when first introduced the Penguin update it impacted around 3.1% of English language websites. However, identifying if you have been hit with the Penguin update is also related to the usual dip in the website traffic. 

If you witnessed a fluctuation in the traffic around the release of the Penguin update then you might be hit with it. However, if your web page contains any spam or low-quality backlinks and you experienced some dip in the website traffic, then you were hit with the penguin update. 

Impact of Penguin update

After its release, the penguin update was made real-time and here are some of the major impacts that you can witness with the Google Penguin update. 

• Websites can get downgraded at any point for spam links 

• You don’t have to wait for a refresh

• Real-time rankings are changed 

Image Credit - Moz.com

Recovering from Penguin update

If you got hit by the Penguin update and lost your rankings on the search results, here are a few tips for you to follow if you wish to recover from the Penguin algorithm.

• Remove any low-quality backlinks 

• Remove bot-generated backlinks

• Add relevant and appropriate backlinks 

• High quality backlinks to be integrated 

• Create high quality links 

Following these tips you can ensure that your website gets recovered from the Penguin update and you get your ranking back. 

MadHawks’ take on Google Penguin Update

As a digital marketing agency MadHawks has always been inclined towards fair practices to be followed for SEO services. Hence, we at MadHawks completely understand and support the Penguin update. 

If you wish to know more about our highly professional SEO services, get in touch with our experts today. 

FAQ

What is the purpose of Google Penguin?

The main objective of Google Penguin is to reduce the occurrence of low quality backlinks and downgrade the websites with black hat seo strategies. 

What is the Difference between Panda and Penguin update?

Penguin update is an extension of Panda update. The main difference here is that Penguin update works on crawling websites and rewards websites with high quality backlinks. Whereas the Panda update rewards the websites with genuine, relevant content.  

What is the Google Penguin 4.0 update?

The Google Penguin 4.0 update was released in July 2016 under which it became an integral part of the Google core algorithm. It evaluates the websites in real-time and provides rankings based on latest content. 

Does Google still use Penguin?

Yes, after 2016 the Penguin update was integrated with Google core algorithm and hence is being used currently as well. 

What is the Google penguin penalty?

The Google penguin penalty was focused on websites with low-quality backlinking and downgrading such websites. 

How do you recover our website from Penguin?

If you wish to recover from the Penguin update, then you should remove any low-quality backlinks, try to incorporate more high-quality backlinks and establish high backlinks. Also, you should avoid using any bot-generated backlinks, and irrelevant backlinks. 

Read Blog - Google Panda Update: Here Is All You Need To Know