Here are the dates of all Penguin
releases:
- Penguin 1.0 on April 24, 2012 (impacting ~3.1% of queries)
- Penguin 1.1 on May 26, 2012 (impacting less than 0.1%)
- Penguin 1.2 on October 5, 2012 (impacting ~0.3% of queries)
- Penguin 2.0 on May 22, 2013 (impacting 2.3% of queries)
- Penguin 2.1 on Oct. 4, 2013 (impacting around 1% of queries)
- Penguin 3.0 on October 17, 2014 (impact not yet released)
Penguin is an algorithm, originally launched in April
of 2012, that identifies evidence of what Google identifies as “webspam”
(occurring both on and off a website), and significantly penalizes websites
identified as being guilty of spammy, manipulative tactics by drastically
reducing their visibility in its search results.
The Penguin Update – to Date:
- The first official Penguin update rolled out on April 24, 2012 as a complementary partner to the Panda algorithm, which was designed to reward sites with a better user experience, while penalizing sites with a poor user experience.
- The Penguin algorithm covers the biggest ranking factor—external links.
- Penguin rewards sites that have natural, valuable, authoritative, relevant links, and penalizes sites that have built manipulative links solely for the purpose of increasing rankings, or links that do not appear natural.
- Google followed up a month later, with Penguin 1.1, and again in October of 2012 with Penguin 1.2. Over the course of 2012, Google unleashed a series of “refreshes,” which updated data, but did not make any major changes to the search algorithm.
- The next big hit was on May 22, 2013, when Penguin 2.0 further refined the rules laid out by Penguin 1.0.
- Rather than making tweaks or refreshing data, 2.0 made further fundamental changes to the algorithm, impacting about 2.3 percent of all search queries.
- And Now Penguin 3.0 update at October 17, 2014
What Makes 3.0 Different
In many ways, Penguin 3.0 is similar
to its predecessors. Its intention is to cut down on spam and improve search
results by eliminating or penalizing links that don’t appear to be naturally
built. Like with the transition from 1.0 to 2.0, the algorithm has grown more
sophisticated. There’s no word yet on what percentage of search queries has
been affected, but it’s reasonable to think it will reach a similar level as
2.0. Google has confirmed that this is a major algorithm change, not just a
slight update or a data refresh, and webmasters should be prepared for a little
turbulence (if they haven’t already seen some).
Penguin 3.0 Recovery Steps
Step One: Identify Bad Links &
On-site webspam
If you got hit with a penalty, it’s
probably a result of too many “bad” inbound links pointing to your website. Bad
links include:
- Links on article directories, link farms, and other gimmicky aggregators
- Links you paid for directly (other than advertising)
- Links posted in irrelevant forums or conversations
- Links in non-industry specific directories
- Links embedded in fluffy content, or those with spammy (ie, exact-keyword-match) anchor text.
Step Two: Remove the Offenders
Next, you’ll want to remove the
questionable links that could be responsible for your ranking drop. First,
reach out to the webmasters in charge of the source sites and ask them to
remove your link. If they refuse or are unable (or ignore your request), you
can use Google’s Disavow Tool,
in Webmaster Tools, to notify Google that you would like to disavow your site’s relationship with those links.
Step Three: Reassess your strategy
Moving forward, make an effort to
build better links on better sites through a strong content strategy. Instead
of building links, think about how you can earn them. Turn your website into a
magnet for links, attracting them with amazing content, rather than building
links that may feel forced.
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