How is your website ranking?
In the last few days, I’ve been asked a lot about website ranking and Google’s algorithm update known as Penguin 4. Penguin 4 is currently rolling out, so you might have already noticed or soon notice some changes to your ranking in the search engines because of it.
Keep in mind that Penguin has been a series of releases since 2012. When it was first released, its mandate was to catch sites that were found to be using spammy link-building strategies.
The biggest news is that Penguin is now real time. So theoretically, changes you make to your pages should be recognised quickly – this is good news if you are making changes in the right direction and potentially bad news if you are doing spammy link-building but didn’t get caught in previous Penguin releases.
Unlike many Google algorithm releases though, it isn’t all scare tactics and bad news. If you were hit by past Penguin releases, perhaps with a penalty and have made changes because of it, you may in fact be rewarded with this release. For example, if you’ve been rolling-back dodgy links, you might now see some results of that strategy.
For quality reading about all things SEO, take a look at moz.com and searchengineland.com. I’ve heard speakers from these companies over the years and they know what they are on about, plus are regularly in touch with the search team at Google. For more on Penguin 4, check out:
http://searchengineland.com/google-updates-penguin-says-now-real-time-part-core-algorithm
https://moz.com/blog/penguin-4-was-it-worth-the-wait
If you need getting found in the search engines, please contact Tanya at Blue Platypus on 07 5597 6618.
