What is Google Penguin?
Google has been laying low when it comes to major algorithm updates for awhile, and overall ranking changes have been pretty stable. But now, coming out for its Winter Impact, Google has released its latest Penguin 4.0 Release. This algorithm update make some major changes to how Penguin operates in the bounds of Google ranking results, and you should know what to expect.
In case you are do not know, Google Penguin was an Google search algorithm update that first came out in 2012. The Panda update, which came a year before in 2011, dramatically overhauled the way Google evaluated content quality, penalizing sites with “thin” or spammy content, and rewarding sites that offered rich, detailed, valuable content. Penguin did something similar for links, penalizing sites with questionable links pointing to them, or those coming from low-quality sites. It also rewarded sites with better-quality inbound link profiles.
There were version 2.0 and 3.0 of Penguin as well later on – offering smaller tweaks or refreshes. Unlike Google’s main algorithm, Penguin only updated itself on occasion – notoriously, it seemed to always arrive before the holidays, shaking things up in the ranking during Black Friday and Christmas. And as a result, if you were penalized, you had to remove these links to counteract the damage, and then had to wait until the next refresh to see the results of your work.
Now, Penguin is working in real-time – which means the algorithm will now likely get a lot closer to fulfilling its ultimate goal: catch spam link profiles as quickly as possible and keep low-quality sites from ranking well in the search results. And again, before the holiday season, we are seeing massive Google Fluctuations in ranking.
In the last few years, Rook Interactive has worked with clients to help resolve the affect of unnatural links and penalties by analyzing lots of Penguin penalized sites. Now, more than ever, it is important to be very AWARE of where your site ranks, and how your positions change day to day. If you are interested in seeing how your site is being affected, please click here to get a free Search Engine Ranking report, and learn how Rook Interactive can help you keep ahead of the curve, with Search Engine changes and Ranking adjustments.