What to expect from Google on a Friday in the most anti prime-time hours? Surely, some breaking news! September 23 gave birth to the Penguin update. Penguin 4.0 became the algorithm’s main part of search engine ranking system.
Flashback
Penguin Google was born on 24 April 2012. Bemused SEOs observed an immediate traffic drop from 30% to 70% which affected approximately 3,1% of search queries (English language), 3% (German, Chinese and Arabic languages) and 5% (Russian and Polish languages).
Google was seeking to fight against manipulation with the unnatural links. High-quality content had to be the reason for the natural promotion. Mainly it was related to the grand number of defected links, which influenced both requested websites and websites with the backlinks.
Those who violated Google’s rights, were lowered to the bottom of SERP (to the 10th or 100th position).
Penguin used its power if:
- SEO links were built up by means of buying them on the link exchanges
- websites were saturated with low-quality backlinks
- commercial anchors with direct keywords were used
- useless non-thematic links were present
- content was unoriginal or dubbed from some partner-website
- rating was lifted through the hidden text or links.
- keywords deviated from the content
- malicious software were created
- doorways were used
- ads prevailed over valuable content
…and much more!
In short, using shady link building methods, you were threatened to disappear from search after the next algorithm update.
It wasn’t long before new Penguin versions appeared:
- 26 May 2012 – Penguin 2 (web-spam fight affects around 0.1% of queries)
- 5 October 2012 – Penguin 3 (affects 0.3% of queries)
- 22 May 2013 – Penguin 4 (2.0) (affects 2.3% of queries)
- 4 October 2013 – Penguin 5 (2.1) (affects 1% of queries)
- 17 October 2014 – Penguin 6 (3.0) (affects 1% of UK queries)
- 23 September 2016 – Penguin 7 (4.0) (fight against excessive optimization, paid keywords and commercial anchor texts)
Google Penguin. Nowadays.
Penguin 4.0 is a lifebuoy for the victims of the previous algorithm updates. Now they have time to fix mistakes and create new strategies. Moreover, Google indexation immediately suppresses all the outcomes of the low-quality link building.
But SEOs who continue using “grey” and “black” link manipulations and backlink spam techniques, are feeling a prompt loss of their top positions.
Nevertheless, there exist a chance to recover!
We recommend to delete all the low-quality links (manually or with Google Disavow tools) and make a request for your website to be rechecked. After Penguin 4.0 makes sure that all the violations are eliminated, it removes the fines.
What’s new, Penguin?
During several years of algorithm testing, developers improved the whole process and added some significant changes. Penguin became more efficient and systematic. It considers more geographical and time website peculiarities.
Real-time algorithm
Before, Penguin could see the website corrections only after self-upgrading. But now, the content filter is real-time. This means that all the website changes are fixed and traced right after re-indexation. It doesn’t take long to get your website back!
When to expect the next Penguin 4.0 updates?
Never again! Google does not report or comment the future updates. Algorithm’s work is continuous and update frequency is a top secret to keep SEOs and website owners toned.
Penguin is worldwide
Penguin 4.0 is adapted to work with all the languages, morphology and syntax that are distinguished by Google. This spreads the tendency of creating qualitative websites without “black” SEO methods.
Going down
Previous Penguins dropped websites out from the tops straightaway after “offenses”. And nobody knew when the sanctions would be lifted. But Penguin 4.0 makes those websites lose positions gradually to give them a chance to recover.
Penguin who cares
Instead of affecting the whole website ranking, Penguin 4.0 devalues only pages containing spam. It changes their ratings based on spam-signals.
Let’s proceed to the vital SEO worries
How to adapt to Penguin 4.0? How to outwit the content filter? How to keep your top position?
No matter how bewildered you are, the answers are more apparent than you might have assumed. To avoid Penguin’s punishment, just stick to its requirements. This easy rule will make your website classy, readable, and demanded.
Stick to the following must-have pieces of advice to flourish during the era of Penguin 4.0.
High-quality anchors and literate keywords
Analyze. Being a conscious webmaster, explore search engine query statistics and select unique link fillings and link surrounding texts. Track the links’ relevance and delete all the defective links. Penguin 4.0 doesn’t hunt on you if the backlinks on your niche websites are appropriate. Eradicate spam. Don’t “borrow” or replicate content. While creating anchors and keywords, remember that they should be: correlated, thematic, literate, unique.
Trust=Authority
Measuring the trust level, Google pays attention to your website’s authority. You can find out your trust level thorough TrustRank and start fixing the malfunctions. Keep in mind that trust=authority, so the higher these factors are, the more respect you get. Be professional and don’t be afraid of Penguin’s filters.
Citation Flow and Trust Flow
These indissoluble elements define quality of your link profile. Briefly, citation flow – predicts how influential a URL might be based on how many websites link to it, trust flow – predicts the trustworthiness of a page. Penguin 4.0 finds and fines every spam website, don’t let your website become one of those.
Regulated monitoring
Even having got the desired level, make sure to keep on maintaining the quality. Permanent website checkups will help you notice temporary technical flaws and get rid of them. Website monitoring systems will trace your website’s search traffic, fix broken links, analyze webpage performance, determine relationships, correlations and anomalies that impact conversion.
Website’s inner world
If you love your audience and your product, fill your website only with relevant content. Make your blog readable and resonant. Let the followers read through it and continue an enthralling travel through your website. Mind the visual component as well. Unique design, informative infographics and educational videos won’t let Penguin 4.0 punish you.
Conclusions
Only devious and “black” SEOs should be afraid of the recent Google algorithm update. Don’t think about how to cheat or outwit the system, just make your site outstanding following Penguin 4.0 rules and you’ll build trust, get to the search top and gain authority.
Become Penguin-friendly and build bridges, not walls.
We wish you the best of luck!