On April 24, 2012, Google launched “The Google Penguin”, an update with the purpose of cracking down hard on web spam and black hat SEO tactics. Google wants to keep web spam from ranking higher than more relevant and real content. However, many countless websites have been adversely effected in the process.
So, were you hit by the Penguin?
Check your websites analytics. Was there a notable drop in web traffic to your site following April 24th? If the answer is yes, you may have hit by the Penguin.
This Google webspam update was designed to help further reward quality content and to punish the spammy activities that are interfering with search results.
Matt Cutts, who is the head of Google’s webspam, first explained what Penguin’s mission was in a blog post before its launch, “In the next few days, we’re launching an important algorithm change targeted at webspam. The change will decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating Google’s existing quality guidelines. We’ve always targeted webspam in our rankings, and this algorithm represents another improvement in our efforts to reduce webspam and promote high quality content. ”
There are ways to get your traffic back and in my next post, I’ll give you a check list of handy best practices and what Google is looking for to get your website back in Google’s good graces. Meanwhile, if you have any specific SEO, Penguin or other questions regarding your website, please leave me a comment and I will be sure to answer.
~Amy
