Google Penguin 4.0
Introduction
Google penguin 4.0: Google penguin was launched in April 2012. After the launch, it went through many updates and landed on penguin 4.0. Google penguin helps the internet get rid of black hat SEO tactics. This means keyword stuffing, duplicate content, cloaking etc.
Google penguin came with two significant changes:
- Penguin is no more a site-wide negative ranking factor.
- It now runs in real-time.
Google Penguin algorithm used to run once in a few months, and you get a penalty whenever the algorithm is refreshed. Apart from if it detected only a single spam page, it used to bury the entire website. Now, this penalty used stays until the next refresh of the penguin.
Everything is changed in Google penguin 4.0. First, it refreshes in real-time, meaning that the site penalties are lifted only when Google crawls and reindexes the page. Another best part about this update is that it does not penalize the whole website, only the spammy page.
How do you know if your Website is Affected by Penguin 4.0?
For this, you need an anti-penguin tool that will help you know if your website is affected positively or negatively. The other tool is also available through which you see your website traffic after the penguin algorithm hits it.
It is for sure that you will see a healthy spike in your website traffic with penguin 4.0. And if you see decreased traffic, then probably some pages are penalized. Or maybe you are suffering from penguin hazards like:
- Paid links
- Over-optimization of keywords
- Thin or duplicate content.
- Too many links from websites that are not relevant.
All these issues can lead to the penguin penalty. In addition, since the last update, it may hit your website if you have unknowingly posted duplicate content.
How will Penguin 4.0 Affect your Website?
The effect is generally felt immediately in the SEO world. Earlier, the website had penalties that used to be lifted and began to rise again. But after penguin 4.0, SEO specialists did not feel the effects until Google started rolling out.
The studies showed that penguin 4.0 has been showing positive results compared to earlier versions. How? It brought a lot of good traffic website and pushed a lot of sketchy links down. For now, this is what the studies say. Let us see what happens in the future.
A perfect example is given for this. An online store in 95th position is now ranked ten after being hit by the penguin 4.0 algorithm.
How to Get Rid of Google Penguin Penalties?
Now, this is not a tricky thing to do since this updated penguin won’t let you wait forever to see that the penalty is lifted. The longer the issue remains penalty won’t be lifted. So let us quickly see what we can do to get rid of the penguin penalty:
Work on Good Quality Content
You need to provide good quality content for your users and google, too—no spammy or duplicate content. And also, stuffing of keywords should be done. Have rough data of your content. So once you plan out everything, you can start working on it.
Please focus on the top-ranked keywords and make sure they make sense. You know that by using those keywords, you can provide great content. Make sure you are using targeted keywords. So it won’t create an issue of a penguin penalty.
Removing Harmful Links
It is essential to get rid of harmful links. Ask web admins to remove links that are spammy and broken. Moreover if you cannot contact them or they won’t do that, you can use the Google Disavow tool to remove links.
Expand your Link Building
As we have good-quality content, it is time to work on link-building. Reach out to website owners that are authorized and relevant and ask them for link building. Therefore, this won’t be difficult for you if your content sounds good and you are constantly active on social media.
