Google’s “Penguin Updates” target the easiest link building practices. Since Google’s algorithm uses links to determine whether a website deserves to rank, they use the Penguin Updates to punish sites that might be getting links in an automated fashion.
Penguin Update 1: April 24, 2012, dubbed v1.0
Penguin Update 2: May 25, 2012
Penguin Update 3: October 5, 2012
Penguin Update 4 : May 22, 2013, dubbed v2.0
Penguin Update 5: October 4, 2013
Penguin Update 6: October 17, 2014, dubbed v3.0
Penguin 3.0 was the sixth Penguin Update from Google, and actually much smaller than the original Penguin Update. It started on October 17, and is still rolling out. But it hasn’t been as much of a hit as previous updates:
1. Google says less than 1% of queries will be affected. That’s less than a third of the original Penguin Update.
2. No new “signals” have been added. It was more of a “refresh” than an update. For those sites that disavowed or removed heavy amounts of links, it was a welcome change.
3. Talk of a larger Penguin update has already started, expected in Spring of 2015.
Vigilance and Risk Management
Last year’s update also opened sites up to more dirty tricks from competitors. Negative SEO has been possible for a long time, and only recently acknowledged by Google. The newest forms of Negative SEO put a competitor’s site into Google’s crosshairs with:
– Links from the worst kinds of sites
– Links targeting the worst kinds of keywords
– Links targeting the right keywords, but in unnatural amounts
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