One of the most waited events in the internet world finally came to be with the announcement of the penguin 4.0 update and this finally deflates 2 years of pent up tension. If you want to appreciate the magnitude of this item of news, consider this; the International telecommunication Union (ITU) says there are over 3.2 billion internet users today.
That’s good news for anyone intending to do business online, but there is a catch. For you to succeed in online marketing, you have to be ranked highly in any search engine page results (SERPs).
Well, Google happens to own 62.7% of the search engine market, which means if you are ranking highly on Google then your business will make it. However, here comes another problem; Google is very stringent on how you gain your ranking for any targeted keywords.
Breakingdown Google’s Penguin
Many websites have been trying to use black hat techniques to stay ahead and this is where Google Penguin algorithm comes in. To rein in these bad apples, Google introduced Penguin in 2012 to ensure anyone using backdoor techniques gets a penalty. It is against this backdrop that everyone has been waiting to know what the penguin 4.0 update is all about. This helps search engine optimization (SEO) experts to know what their work will now be.
If you are an SEO strategist, you appreciate how hard this field can be. Google has never really explained what plays into their search engine ranking. Over the last 2 years, many experts have emerged to try and make sense of the expected penguin 4.0 update but now that the algorithm is here many website owners don’t even know what to make of it.
If you are webmaster, why not consider the following factors to help you form a solid SEO strategy for your website:
Expected Impact
Unlike previous updates, the penguin 4.0 update was released throughout the world and this means all websites will be affected by the changes. The rules are now the same for everyone and the bottom line is to ensure you have a professional website that relies on white hat marketing techniques.
Real-Time Monitoring
If you are enjoying the usual lapses of Google’s lapses in updating crawl results, you better rethink your strategy. If you have spammy links on your pages, the impact of the same is now immediate. You will not have weeks or months before the next update because live monitoring means instant action. On the other hand, if you had a penalty and you remove any harmful links, you will observe faster results on the search engines.
Leveraging Penguin 4.0 Update
While most doomsayers have always predicted the worst from Google algorithm updates, the penguin 4.0 update is not all that bad after all. The updated algorithm unlike the predecessors informs you quickly about any actions being taken and the cause of such actions.
The action is immediate but on the positive side you are able to initiate remedies immediately, which leads to faster recovery. It is not all gloom because the penalties will be reviewed faster to guarantee your pages move back to the top of the SERPs ranking.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Every webmaster today is fretting about Google’s penguin 4.0 update, but is there need for this? Well, if you have not been following Google’s webmaster guidelines, you better be on the lookout. The effects of black hat techniques will be felt immediately and your clients will notice which leads to loss of business.
The good news is that you can recover from the penalties faster because of the real-time capability that the penguin 4.0 update brings to the algorithm. What’s more, you don’t have to worry about your site ranking taking a hit because of one spammy link on one page.
The ugly side of this is that your website will now take an instant hit on search engine rankings. You will go to bed with your page performing well only to find it in the doldrums if you fall foul of the new penguin 4.0 update.
The temptation for the easier path in SEO has now been stunted by the penguin 4.0 update. Just make sure your links add value to your website and more importantly, check where they are coming from.
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