Penguin 2.1 algorithm update now live
Google’s Penguin algorithm updates have been feared and embraced in equal measure by the SEO industry. If you’re playing by the rules, you have nothing to worry about; if you’re using underhand, spammy SEO tactics, you’ll be quaking in your boots at the announcement of the latest update, which came into effect on 4th October. Penguin is all about spam-busting, so if you’re still caught in a cycle of haemorrhaging money to a cheap SEO company spinning 100 poor quality guest posts for link-building, you’d better listen up.
Penguin was first announced roughly 18 months ago in April 2012, and since then there have been several small updates to the way the algorithm detects and penalises spammy content. It is used to detect those sites dominating the top of the rankings who may be there using illegitimate means, such as paying for thousands of links from other websites, or those who are part of a complex spam network. These sites do not deserve these places, so for those of us going about our SEO practices the right way, this is good news.
Those sites who have been working with SEO companies buying lots of poor quality links may start to notice their traffic dropping in the next few days. While this may be an alarming prospect if you’re not sure what your SEO company is doing to get you the remarkable rankings you’ve been seeing recently, all is not lost if you are hit by Penguin. There are legitimate SEO companies, such as Artemis, who will go about your SEO in the right way, and we have helped many clients escape Google’s feared algorithm updates in the past, or got them out of the mess other SEO companies have left them in.
The bottom line is although you may find your site falling dramatically in the coming days (around 1 in 100 search queries are expected to be hit by the update), we can help. Get in touch with Artemis today if you’re worried about the way Penguin might affect your site. The sooner we help you through the recovery process, the better.