Google Penguin – Does it Affect Your Online Business?

Google Penguin Update Recovery Tips & Advice

Before Penguin, Google released a series of algorithm updates called Panda that first appeared in February 2011.

Panda aimed at downranking websites that provided poor user experience. To identify such websites, a machine-learning algorithm by Navneet Panda was used, hence the name.
Google penguin is “on page filter” of latest Panda update.

Google prepared a feedback form,designed for two categories of users: those who want to report web spam that still ranks highly after the search algorithm change, and those who think that their site got unfairly hit by the update. Google also has a reconsideration form through Google Webmaster Tools for the 700,000 sites who received an email stating their sites demonstrated unusual linking.

Google’s guideline related to “duplicate Content” stay the same for years and does not changed with the lunch of Google Penguin.

Now Google try to fight spam more seriously.

Google Penguin (update that was first announced on April 24, 2012) – update is aimed at decreasing search engine rankings of websites that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines by using black-hat SEO techniques such as keyword stuffing, cloaking, participating in link schemes, deliberate creation of duplicate content, and others.

Does Google’s Penguin affect your site?

Look at your Google Analytic and compare Google / organic for the time before and after April 24.

I have developed, design and help to promote multiple website in different industry. Some sell and provide services, other produces goods, some non-profit, sport school even web design and development not of it loose ranking or position in Google organic search result!

So, if you see no significant difference you are good! Read below to find the way to make them better.

See big gap, then say “Thank you” for spamming techniques that you used to promote your sites. Read below anyway it might help to start think different.
Is there a thing like a permanent Google penalty for sites, or if the necessary fixes were made according to Google guidelines the penalties are lifted in all cases?

SEO do not do.
List for starters and the way to recover for spammer:

• Do not buy .info for Free do not create multiple site with same sitemap that link to main (one) site!
  One of our competitors bought bunch of .info and made duplicate sites with exact sitemaps of main site with lots of incoming links. Who’s fault if they now lost in organic search results? Google? ….
• Don’t stuff as many keywords into your page title, headers, and URL as humanly possible; try to create the body content as organic as you can without setting “points” to inject keywords.
• Get out of the aggressive mind-set on building “doorway” pages which are made for the sole function of high rankings and sales.
• Work on a better user experience (more interaction, simple navigation). Build a website people want to browse than keep them on your pages longer by giving them a worthwhile experience. Add video from you YouTube channel. Add DIY and Help videos use video annotation as extra Meta data.
• Make text relevant to your visitors. Don’t cut corners; create definitive content on your topic, category and products.
• Use your imagination and never listen someone who calls themselves “SEO Guru”. Where does those “guru” now?
• Do not look for “magic bullets”.
• Nothing is simple. Right now there are 644 million active websites on the Internet according to Netcraft.

Read my next post for simple tips on how to write different content if you sell same products as hundreds of others websites.

Penguin’s effect on Google search results

Just to confirm: does Google take manual action on webspam? Does manual action result in a removal or can it also be a demotion? Are there other situations where Google will remove content from its search results? Matt Cutts, Bay Area, California

By Google’s estimates, Penguin affects approximately 3.1% of search queries in English, about 3% of queries in languages like German, Chinese, and Arabic, and an even bigger percentage of them in “highly-spammed” languages. On May 25th, 2012, Google unveiled the latest Penguin update, called Penguin 1.1, this Penguin update, according to Matt Cutts, is supposed to impact less than one-tenth of a percent of English searches

I’m Innocent! Talk to Google spamming team

The head of Google’s web spam team, Matt Cutts, shared the information on Twitter today. The first form is for those who believe they were targeted by mistake. It says:
If your site was affected by the “Penguin” webspam algorithm update on April 24th, 2012, and you don’t think it should have been affected, please give us more details below.
It then asks for the URL of your page, an example of a search that you’d expect it to show up for but which instead lists “non-ideal results” and any additional comments.

Feedback form on Google’s recent algorithm update (“Penguin”) here

They’re Guilty! You feel that your competitors are spamming:

The second form is Google’s standard spam reporting page. If you’re seeing spam that you think the Penguin Update should have caught, Google says to use that form, bypass options like reporting paid links and use the “Report webspam” button.
Selecting that brings up a form where you can enter the URL of the spammy page, the exact query it shows up for and any additional details. It’s important to use the word “penguin” as part of the details field.
For more read this article by Danny Sullivan:

http://searchengineland.com/penguin-update-peck-your-site-by-mistake-googles-got-a-form-for-that-119698

Instead of being afraid small e-commerce site owners need to improve websites and once again read this: Demystifying the “duplicate content penalty” published in 2008 it still current.

“These tactics are clearly outlined (and discouraged) in our Webmaster Guidelines:

• Don’t create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.
• Avoid… “cookie cutter” approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.
• If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.”

…

Google had initially warned that an “over-optimization” penalty was coming. This is the penalty it was talking about, but it has clarified that it’s not meant to target some hard-to-pin down “over-optimization” but rather outright spam.

Remember Google guideline does not change as often they change search engine algorithm, so do not worry if you are not spamming.

More readin about Google Penguin:

Google Penguin Update Recovery Tips & Advice
Matt Cutts On Penalties Vs. Algorithm Changes,
 A Disavow-This-Link Tool & More