What on earth is Google’s Penguin Update and why should I be worried? The answer is that you shouldn’t be. As long as you haven’t been involved in any “Black Hat” SEO tactics you have nothing to worry about and you might even find that your site’s rankings improve. However if you, or anyone working on your behalf has built paid links in the past or used any other techniques designed to unfairly manipulative search results you may need to take action fast.
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What Is Google Penguin 2.0?
Google first launched its Penguin Update in April 2012 with the aim of preventing sites from ranking well on the back of activities which go against their Guidelines. Most of the sites targeted had “unnatural” links pointing towards them as a result of unscrupulous SEO companies attempting to boost the rankings of sites by building quick and easy low-quality links. A second major update (following several small tweaks) has just rolled out and we are expecting it to have a big impact.
Those affected can expect to see their rankings fall dramatically for either specific keywords or across the board. This will result in a drop in traffic which will be difficult to recover from. As Penguin is algorithmic you won’t receive a notification via Google Webmaster Tools as you would with a manually applied penalty.
What Are We Doing About It?
Optix have always focused on creating great content rather than trying to push lesser content up the rankings with paid links. As a result most of our clients can rest assured that this update won’t have a negative impact on them. In fact they may find that their rankings improve as their competitors’ fall.
We are monitoring the situation and checking our client’s sites to see if any historical activity could cause a problem. By auditing our client’s backlink profiles we are able to take preventative measures on behalf of any clients whose previous employees or agencies might have been tempted to risk their long term traffic for quick gains.
If you’re worried about your site or want to know more give us a ring on 01392 667766.
