Part 1 – The Facts of Google’s 23 May 2013 Penguin 2.0 Update So, you’ve been bitten by Penguin 2.0. Your traffic is suddenly down, possibly WAY down. You’ve Googled it and it seems it all started when Penguin 2.0 came out and you’re at a loss for what to do next. Welcome to the predicament of tens of thousands of small business owners right now. So, what’s happened and how do you fix it?
What is Penguin?
Penguin is one part of Google’s ranking equation. Nobody outside of Google’s boardroom knows exactly how it works, but Google uses an extremely complex mathematical equation to determine how websites get ranked. Generally referred to as “the algorithm”, it is made up of more than two hundred different components, each designed to factor in a different SEO “indicator”. Penguin is the part of the algorithm concerned with minimising spam on the Internet.
Wait, are you saying my website is spam!?!
Nope. Your website may be 100% legit, but it could have SEO elements that appear spammy to Google’s computers. eCommerce sites have been particularly affected by the various changes (known as updates) to the Google Penguin algorithm. This is because it’s good practice to link to accessories and related products on your website – and even link to them using their name (known as anchor text); Google used to reward you for doing this because it improves user experience by making your site easier to navigate. Unfortunately, because Google rewarded it, spammers mimicked it… in fact, they mimicked the life out of it. So, Google’s recent update punishes those who have too many of this kind of link. You may have been caught up in this… or not. There are a few different reasons you could have been penalised; you’ll need to look at all of them.
Diagnosing a Penguin Problem
OK, so, what have you done? You might have done something wrong if you:
- Have lots of links on your site that use search terms (keywords) as anchor text
- Have added lots of keywords to your site on purpose
- Have lots of links on other sites that point back to your own site that use anchor text in the link
- Have no links to “internal pages” on your website
- Have lots of links from low quality websites
- Have bought SEO services in the past
- Have a lot of good quality competitors that were very bad at SEO in the past, but are suddenly ranking very well.
Diagnosing a penguin problem isn’t as simple as just fixing a few links. First, you must figure out why you’re being affected and then set up a plan for reversing the damage. If you’ve got the budget, you can pay someone to do it; if not, read Part 2 of this article series – Preparing to Fix SEO Problems Caused by Penguin 2.0 Yourself. Part 3 of this article series looks at the most common Penguin 2.0 problems and what you can do to DIY a solution. Part 4 looks at quality related and user experience issues that are impacted by Penguin updates.
