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Penguin 6 – Incoming Algorithm Update

Justin Aldridge

penguin algorithm update

Penguin 6 Rumblings among the SEO community have been ongoing for a fair few months & I for one will be grateful to see the latest refresh, if only so I can stop saying “it’s due anytime” (I have been saying that since at least February). I have spent hundreds of hours looking at tens of thousands of websites within the backlink profiles of many clients. Some of the things I have seen I can never unsee.

Why Penguin?

Google in their infinite wisdom may well have decided it is easier to shape this add on to their link graph tweaks using humans instead of machines & were nice enough to place the responsibility of who links to us to a larger or smaller degree right within our laps, SEOs the world over have been compiling disavow file after disavow file. Even in the wake of this algorithm adjustment we all eagerly await with baited breath, a whole new cottage industry has popped up to scare the hell out of biz owners large and small and to be fair a few of them do a rather good job on cleaning up your link profile, but in equal measure the darker side has risen to the challenge of putting all that crap back in again. For a price, of course.

When Penguin?

It has been a while since we last saw our little Penguin friend, over a year in fact. But what we do know now is that it is in the final stages of testing.

 

If you are fluent in German beyond ordering a beer you can listen in to John’s Webmasters HoA;

Our Client Data

While we can’t pinpoint an exact name on the update as Google launches hundreds every year, what we do know from our own internal data here is that October 5th, 6th & 7th is what I am calling the “Penguin Tickle Test”, a mix of our own pro-activity along with whatever changes the guys over the pond are pushing out to various data centres. We tend to step very carefully so we know exactly what needle we are shifting.

SEO Client 1

penguin-client-1

SEO Client 2

penguin-client-2

SEO Client 3

penguin-client-3

I could give another 20 examples I am seeing this on but you get the idea.

So What Next?

*crap analogy alert* Simple really, if you have gone to all the trouble of taking away the straw scaffolding, I hope you have been replacing it with steel. The refresh looks to be imminent and in keeping with search engineers sense of humour it will either be a weekend release or during the night to keep us all on our toes.

Should you be worried about your link profile?

“Not too much no” is my honest answer, these kind of updates of this size are months in the testing not just weeks as they tend to gather data for quite a while. Unless you have been a really naughty boy/girl/bot then you should generally be fine.

Ein bier dankes meiner gut frau