The Penguin Stirs
In this post, we talked about the Penguin update and why we like it, but since the initial release (Google Penguin 1.0 – Attack of the Fish) in late May the penguin has fallen silent. However, Google SEO sage Matt Cutts has hinted that the next release is imminent and a more noticeable impact will be felt. If I was a dabbler in shady SEO and my sites were thick with spun content, keyword stuffing, unnatural links and low quality backlinks I’d be firmly bricking it right now, especially if my SERPs were essential to my ongoing business or the business of my clients. Remember, this penguin with the sensitive beak sniffs out those sites that are over-optimised. That is, you’ve taken too many steps to convince Google you are worthy of ranking, without the substance to back it up.
Keep making your site fantastic. Add regular, rich content. Integrate social media. Your audience will love it and share you, more people will reach you. (Disclaimer: It’s not quite as simple as that because the algorithm considers dozens of factors for both on and off page.)
Recovering from the penguin update
Recovering from the penguin update isn’t exactly easy, and it could be about to get much harder. We eat this stuff for breakfast and have already helped several sites to recover from the penguin. First, we conduct a full audit of all SEO activity and make a list of recommendations, implementing them if necessary and giving you a steer on resubmitting to Google. It may be painful in the short term, but the end game is a cleaner, fairer web.
Give us a call, we’d be delighted to help.
