Penguin 3.0- How it impacts your business?

Just a few months ago, Google rolled out the much anticipated penguin refresh dubbed as ‘penguin 3.0’. From the past two years, Google’s penguin algorithms has refined search engine results by targeting websites that infringe Google’s webmasters guidelines and that use back-hat SEO techniques or paid links or other strategies. The new version of penguin algorithm follows its predecessors by weeding out these results.

Penguin 3.0- What is it?

The new penguin 3.0 will be a complete rewrite of algorithm instead of just being a refresh. The main aim of penguin 3.0 is to cut down spammy links and enhances search engine results by penalizing sites that have built manipulative links solely for the purpose of boosting rankings. For instance, if you have been using automated programs to build thousands of back links to your sites in order to achieve highest page ranking, then chances are good that you are now buried deep in the search engine results. On the other hand, webmasters who are abiding by Google webmaster’s guidelines and doing everything in the right way can get their site listed on the top, thanks to the new penguin update.
According to Google, Penguin’s latest iteration frees up all sites that have cleaned up webspam signals and fixed previous errors and demotes sites with newly discovered penalty-infringing aspects.
The update as said prompts most webmasters to scramble and verify that their sites are not violating any of Google’s guidelines. Infact, it obviously affects lot of search queries and spammers, poor link builders and people who are trying to trick Google with some smart techniques. Penguin refresh affects less than one percent of queries in search engine results based on US English.

How to find out whether your site is affected by Penguin 3.0?

Google analytics
Analyzing your website’s data is one of the best options to find out whether your site is affected. Track your website data, including visits and channels that drive traffic. If you notice a sharp decline in the number of visits to your site, you may have been hit by latest penguin update. And, if your search results remains constant but there is a sudden drop in your social referrals, you may not be hit by penguin 3.0. You can’t decide on by analyzing a single day’s or week’s data, instead, you need to evaluate trends to decide on.  

Webmaster Tools

Webmaster Tools is a great way to check for penguin’s attack on your site. Using this, you can access a lot of data including search queries, click-through rates, impressions and so on. If you notice a sudden drop either in the number of impressions or average search position, then it is a good sign to note that your site has been affected by latest penguin update.

How to avoid being detrimentally impacted by Penguin 3.0?

According to previous releases, it’s worth to confiscate the following from any page of your website:
*      Link schemes involving paid links or link swaps
*      Using automation to create links
*      Text ads passing page rank
*      Poor quality backlinks
*      Low-quality directory or bookmark site links
*      Optimized anchor text in articles or press releases
*      Widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites
Sources stated that penguin’s new iteration will affect 0.3% to 3.1% of websites that are indexed on Google.
However, this new latest update rewards sites that have natural, authoritative, relevant and valuable links. If your site has viable links and quality content, your chances of getting hit by Penguin 3.0 are less.
Google anticipates that Penguin 3.0 can churn out the most accurate and guideline-abiding search results. As long as your website is abided by Google’s guidelines, Penguin 3.0 is boom for you.

   
-->