It has been over a year since Google announced Penguin 2.0 update and we had shared our thoughts on it. Since Penguin 3.0 update was announced by Google on Oct 17, 2014 – it was estimated to affect less than 1% of English queries as Moz pointed out. John Mueller from Google had said that this update could roll out over the next few weeks.
This update is intended at reducing “web-spam” at a much higher and sophisticated level than Penguin 2.0 update. Let us now try to understand how this update actually works. First & foremost, Penguin 3.0 update is pretty much similar to the preceding updates with the main intention being reducing web-spam by demoting sites with bad link profiles (removing websites from Google Index which have acquired “paid links” over the years). Google experts say this is a refresh. This essentially means the algorithm was re-run to release sites that fixed their issues and to demote sites that had issues that weren’t picked earlier. Site owners & SEO experts may have to be ready to witness fluctuation in traffic and rankings.
If your website has seen drastic changes in organic traffic and/or keyword ranks over the last few weeks here are a few steps to consider immediately:
Bad or paid links may also be a factor if you are affected by this update. Check for links from paid directories, irrelevant forums and non-industry specific sites
Google Webmaster tools and other tools like Moz come in handy. Conduct detailed tests using these tools and update your website profile. If your site is linked with some shady sites, then usage of Disavow tool can be an added advantage. Disavow tool on Google Webmaster lets you start disassociating from such poor/bad-links.
If your website is associated with sites of bad reputation including paid ones identified by the above mentioned steps, this is the right time to disengage yourself from these associations.
Having said all of the above, be aware of with whom you are linking to in the future. Share your feedback and comments in the comment section below.
Contact us to learn more. Have a happy spam free experience on the Net!
