Search Engine Optimisation & Google Penguin Update

Google Penguin was first announced in April 2012. The Google algorithm then quickly went live, and has been revised several times since. Released on October 5th, Penguin 3 is the most recent update, designed to ensure the most appropriate search results are ranking on the first page of Google.

The principal aim of this latest Google algorithm update is to improve the user experience. Websites which provide poor quality content, rely on black hat search engine optimisation, unethical search engine marketing, and spam links have been hit the hardest by these updates. Companies who have implemented such tactics in the past are now quickly attempting to re-strategise as their search engine results have dropped significantly.

Penguin 3 is now focusing on some key optimisation issues, including:

• Unnatural linking
• Top heavy advertising
• Over 30% keyword stuffing
• Duplicated content use
• Exact match domains

Google Penguin Update SEO Solution

Google Penguin has been designed to ensure that websites’ content adheres to the ‘Google Webmaster Guidelines’. Also known as the ‘over-optimisation’ update, Google Penguin has had a significant effect on the way in which SEO work. Although, software engineer and head of Google’s webspam team, Matt Cutts pronounced;

“I think ‘over-optimization’ wasn’t the best description, because it blurred the distinction between white hat SEO and webspam. This change is targeted at webspam, not SEO.”

This is good news for white hat search engine optimisers, and those who keep current with the latest Google algorithm announcements. Because Google’s search algorithm is being constantly altered and improved, it is vital that search engine marketers stay up-to-date with the most recent strategies. Google can modify their algorithm up to six hundred times a year, so marketers must stay extremely well-informed and innovative in how they operate if they want to succeed.

Google Penguin is estimated to have affected over thirty percent of all English language queries. The enormity of which has left many poorly optimised websites scrambling to undo the negative effects of their adverse SEO.

Websites seeking to optimize their website in accordance with Google Penguin can look to remove low-quality links, slightly reduce their keyword percentage, eliminate duplicate content, and focus on more natural search engine improvement.

It is Google’s primary goal to create the best possible user-experience, and Google Penguin is yet another step in that direction. This, however, does not spell the end for search engine optimisers.

White hat SEO will now be required to adopt long-term strategies which focus on high-quality and unique content. The utilization of more natural strategies can still greatly improve websites’ Google ranking, and even assist those attempting to recover from the downfalls of their past.