Google Penguin Update to Restrict Link Schemes

The penguin is one of Google’s most important algorithms. Google launched Penguin in 2012 to check link quality of the sites. Sites with low quality or dubious links acquired from dubious directories or blog spam could be hit by Penguin and penalized for it for boosting rankings on Google artificially.

Over the years, every time Google Penguin update has come, it has changed the ay SEO is strategized for boosting ranking of the sites. Introduction of Penguin forced webmasters to base their SEO strategies over acquiring quality links and build on their ranking organically.

Now, rumors have been rife since 2015 that very soon there will be an announcement regarding a major Google Penguin update. There is widespread anticipation to the release most likely to be announced this year.

The new Google Penguin update will see Penguin run real time leading to penalization and demotion of sites instantly and also, a chance to gain back the space by being more organic.

Google Penguin 4.0 is here!

The latest update from Google has been confirmed with the tech giant announcing the release of its latest Google Penguin 4.0 version. This is Google’s fourth and possibly the last update of this nature that it has made to Penguin. Google confirms that the test version of penguin will run real time within its core algorithm.

The earlier versions of Penguin would run a filter to catch sites operating spam and low quality links to artificially boost their rankings on Google. Sites detected with such dubious links would then be penalized for an indefinite period. Even after these sites would clean and improve on the links they would not be able to gain back their space until the Penguin ran a filter again to detect the changes made. This would result in such sites being penalized for months and even years.

The latest Google Penguin 4.0, however, has been updated to relieve the sites from any such delays. Now, as Penguin will run real time, every time Google will crawl and re-index the sites, Penguin will scan the changes. As, Google does indexing and crawling of pages constantly; the sites will see the impact, positive or negative, instantly.

Google also says that the latest update is not only about Penguin running real time but also that Google Penguin 4.0 is now more granular or micro specific. This means that the Penguin will now affect ranking of the sites by adjusting the rankings as per the level of spam detected in these sites. This means that any spam detected by Penguin will not directly affect the complete site but, it will take into consideration extent of spam and accordingly demote or penalize the sites. 

By being more granular, what Google possibly means is that Penguin will not jut penalize the complete site but may also impact only a page or particular section of the site.

Google with this update has confirmed that Penguin 4.0 is the last its last version and there will be no future updates on Penguin.

The latest Google Penguin update will be a cause of worry for many sites. Now, there are many sites that do not need to worry about the new changes to Penguin as it will only safeguard their interests and help them keep fake competitors at bay.

There are, however, sites that need to make serious changes to their SEO strategies if they want to be in the game. Webmasters who have used links that are low quality or spam will now face instant consequences that may result in their sites being penalized. So, as a Webmaster you should be fully aware and alert of your SEO strategy and research well before you hire an SEO expert.

If you have engaged in SEO strategies or low quality link building for your sites in the past then it is time to clean it up. With the latest Google Penguin 4.0, sites that had been affected with spam links in the past can now feel secure as these spam sites will now face penalty instantaneously. Thus, boosting the ranking of sites that have been building organic links to be ranked on Google.

Google Penguin 4.0 will now ensure that marketers make an effort towards creating a clean and organic site and follow Google guidelines.