Coming Soon... A New Penguin Algorithm!

Google has recently confirmed that there is a newly updated Penguin algorithm about to be released, probably by the end of this calendar year. This news game straight from Google’s own Gary Illyes at the recent SMX East. That’s great news! This will help Google move towards a “real-time” update, so no more making changes and waiting to see if they were effective. Let’s break down exactly what Gary’s announcement means for marketers and small business owners running their own website:

Google is Still Focused on Users

The original Penguin update was released early in 2012 and focused on bad, spammy links. Up until this time, websites were able to buy links or obtain backlinks from sources created to “trick” Google into boosting their rankings. This whole concept was the opposite of what Google wants to do, which is to deliver the best results to searches and stay reputable. By continuing to work on Penguin and make it better and faster than ever, Google is saying that their users are still their top priority.

You’ll Recover Faster

All of this means that as soon as Google discovers that a link is removed or disavowed, the Penguin algorithm will process it in real time, and you would be able to recover from a Penguin penalty incredibly quickly. If you’ve made a mistake or accidently hired an SEO agency with poor practices, you won’t need to stay penalized for very long.

You’ll be Penalized Faster

This is the flip side of the “real-time” coin. If you do something spammy or Black Hat, you’ll be penalized right away. In the past, you had a year or so before another refresh and you could get away with your bad practices for a little while. That period of time is now gone, meaning there’s absolutely no reason to risky a Black Hat practice at all.

Repeat Offenders Will be Getting More Than a Penalty

Google published a post on its Webmaster Central blog warning that websites who are repeatedly found to be in violation of the search engine’s good practices guidelines could be banned for life with the upcoming algorithm update. Apparently, some sites try to fool Google by removing bad links when hit with a manual action, only to reinstate them when the penalty has been removed. With the new real-time aspect of Penguin, this practice has got to go. Google says that sites that persist with this strategy will face permanent exclusion from the SERPs. Yikes! You can’t fool Google, so instead of thinking of ways to get around the best practices, just create remarkable content, stay strictly White Hat, and focus on your ideal customers.

This is all definitely good news for those who follow the Google-recommended, White Hat SEO practices, or even those who accidently strayed. We will keep you updated on this release in the upcoming months, but in the meantime, download our free eBook Modern SEO to stay current.