The Google Penguin update is now Live! It has been confirmed by Google on their official Webmaster blog that after the sequence of testing and developments they are rolling out an update to the Penguin algorithm in all languages. The great news is that this time, it is Real-time and more Granular.
Ever since the announcement of Penguin 4.0 update by Gary Illyes, a webmaster analyst who works with Google released some information via his twitter page last year, this has been the talk of the town.
What is Penguin?
Google Penguin is a code name for a Google algorithm update which is aimed at lowering search engine rankings of websites that violate the Webmaster guidelines. It involves usage of black-hat SEO techniques which is artificially increasing the ranking of a webpage by manipulating the number of links referring to the page. The motive behind these updates like Penguin, Panda etc. is to display higher quality websites at the top of Google’s search results.
The main target of Google Penguin is spamdexing, which is also considered to be a method of search engine optimization. This will now benefit the users and ensures that they always see the most relevant content on page 1 of their search results.
Penguin 4.0 and what’s new
As stated earlier Penguin 4.0 is a Real-time update and much more Granular. This means that the Penguin portion of the algorithm always remains “ON and updating”. This algorithm will be able to devalue spam by adjusting the ranking based on the spam signals rather than affecting the ranking of the whole webpage.
The concept of real-time means that your webpage will be penalized in near real-time as well as recover from the penalty quickly. Google claims that the black-hat SEO doesn’t work now with the development of Penguin 4.0. With Penguin going in real time, this catches the spam link profiles more quickly and prevents sites from ranking in third party SEO tools.
While on the other end, it seems that the SEO tools have been improvised to take down the Penguin 4.0 update. Let’s see which side has an upper hand.
Impact of 4.0 on the website
If your site has already been hit by Penguin 3.0, it’s better to perform a link audit to your website. If you have any bad links remove them right away. It is comparatively a small price to pay than being caught by the new penguin update with the algorithm going real-time.