When Will I Recover From Google Penguin Penalty?

Over the course of a week, I get many mails from people who were "penalized" by Google Penguin update. All of them are bewildered by what happened to their websites. A few of them have accepted that rules of the game have changed and they have to adapt to survive while others cry foul but that's human nature.

When clients ask me how to recover from Penguin, I first point them out to my article (http://www.azurebiz.com/blog/how-to-recover-from-google-penguin-update/). After reading it most of them understand that Penguin is not really a penalty. The fact is that Google has updated its algorithms and has discounted (or devalued) many links which earlier got you great results. So, now your site's ranking in Google search results is "correct" as far as Google is concerned!

Clients who contact me for penguin recovery consulting, quite logically ask me when they will recover from the Penguin update?  The answer is not that clear and concise. Google works in mysterious ways. It has to be noted that Google update just affected 3% of search results. So it can be assumed that Penguin is not complete yet. Depending on the feedback Google gets it may choose to roll out even more widespread version of penguin update which covers even more search results with few tweaks to the Penguin.

Google had pushed a minor Penguin algorithm data refresh that affected <0.1% of English searches. There were no reports of any website making any recovery as yet.

As far as Penguin recovery is concerned, only one documented and proven case has been known till now- WPMU.org. It got hit by Penguin update. They immediately followed many steps, mainly removing over a half a million links from sites using their WordPress themes. Removing links from the WP themes that they distributed was a simple job for them. This one step according to them made the biggest difference and they got back their traffic and rankings.

Though their recovery was quick and impressive, the fact has to be remembered that WPMU is not exactly a small site and in fact got quite a lot of publicity when they presented their case to Google and SEO community also took up cudgels on their behalf.

Millions of sites hit by Google do not have this kind of luxury. They do not control their backlinks and they are not famous enough to be highlighted by media or search community. Therefore, any hope of quick recovery for smaller sites is distant.

The only way forward for webmasters and site owners is to keep moving ahead. Follow the steps outlines in my article and keep building new "natural" links so that when the next update happens your site stands a better chance of recovery from Penguin. Remember that you benefitted for so many years from high rankings so while right now you may be down you are not out yet. At least not until you have rectified your link profile and de-optimized your pages. If you still do not notice any changes after next round of Penguin refresh then probably it's time to close down the site for good and begin afresh.

Author: Aniruddha Badola is a SEO based in India with specialization in natural link building. He has worked with numerous clients all over the world to help formulate and execute sustainable and scalable SEO strategies. He regularly writes about technology and search industry for various blogs.

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Google Penguin Update: Reconsideration Request Tips from Google

You can never get away with everything you do and Google agrees with it. Recently, Google came up with a new algorithm that acts as a crack down on aggressive web spam methods that are used by Black hat SEOs.

The various tactics comprise of:

• Stuffing of pages with keywords
• Developing a seemingly abnormal link profile
• Abnormal number of links that direct you to a website
• Anchor text that is teeming with keywords
• Spinning original articles and other content for creating new articles/content

According to Google, the Google Penguin the Penguin would work as an over-optimising penalty which would concentrate on keeping low quality websites away from the featuring on the SERPs. In others Google Penguin would strike these websites off their index i.e. deindex them. A key reason for this is that almost all these websites are merely spamming the web space and not even offering users the information they are looking for. Thus, making a better space for the good sites to breathe in and doing away with unethically achieved Search engine ranking.

Google has stopped recognising links between the network and the objectionable sites. According to a comment released during the release, Google will not disclose their main target for categorizing a particular site as spammer. Yet, in case of certain sites that have and have not been reprimanded the update is focused on a certain fraction of comparison between unnatural and natural site links.

If you are a website owner and wish to ensure your website is not blacklisted by one of the biggest search engine, you would simply need to follow some guidelines. Given below are some of them:

1. Don't fool your target users by directing them to your site using different content and feature different content on the site. This is usually called as ‘cloaking'.
2. The search engine optimisation would supposedly be good for your business exposure but don't follow certain tricks which would not help your users and merely give you a non-worthy search engine ranking.
3. Linking schemes are basically devised for increasing a websites ranking. While you are at it, make sure you steer clear from web spammers, as any such association might affect your ranking in the long run.
4. Make sure you use authorised computer programs for submitting pages or even keeping a check on your web rankings. This is advised to every website owner as such unauthorised programs tend to infringe the search engine Terms of Service. Google endorses the use of certain authorised programs that send automated queries to them.
5. You can evade Google's eye by avoiding private blog networks that allow guests to comment and make article posts. Don't forget these networks are on the Google radar.
6. Google has sounded the death knell for the age-old article marketing. Articles from ezines like Ezinearticles have now been classified as unnatural. 
7. A major hindrance to websites is being tagged as malware, innumerable pop-ups. Avoid getting into this arena as this would only make you lose your Google search engine page ranking.
8. Try and brush up on your social media marketing, blogs and website, as these would serve as a prime tool that can be implemented and efficiently used. Update your social media site details, upload some new profile pictures so that you are seen as active on your social media page and the target audience can easily connect with you and be aware of what you are offering or what are the new updates with regard to your company or the products or services you offer.

Author Bio: Sunny Popali is SEO Director at www.tempocreative.com, Tempo has pioneered a trouble-free process for clients to achieve a high-impact, impressive web site built for maximum ROI.

For over a decade Tempo has been Phoenix, Arizona and the USA's favorite web design and digital marketing firm.

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