industry E-commerce Google Penguin
Is an update on the horizon? Penguin penalties are only rolled out at certain times of the year, and are generally accompanied by an announcement from Google. Market research agency toinfinity spoke to SGB about the possibilities of an algorithm update in the works for Google: “It is well over a year since the last Penguin update – 3.0 was refreshed in October 2014. Until now, there has been very little word on when Google would next update its algorithm. However, Search Engine Journal (SEJ) recently reported a Twitter conversation in which Webmaster trends analyst Gary Illyes revealed that the next iteration of Penguin is coming in ‘weeks’. He did not give a specific launch date.” The key aspect of this news, according to toinfinity, is that Penguin will be updated rather than refreshed. “The 2014 refresh ran the same algorithm from a previous update, but this upcoming update will be a fundamental change in Penguin itself, and will most likely introduce real time updates. This would make maintaining links on a site a more manageable process, as an automated penalty could be reversed in a short-time frame if the site owner disavowed the offending links
quickly enough or created a stronger more diversified linking profile. Currently, if your site were to receive a penalty it would still take a matter of months to recover, with Google’s data refreshes only happening sporadically. This could mean if you were hit by this new update it could be months before your site regains its visibility for its search terms. Historically, the introduction of Penguin updates has been devastating for some businesses; at this stage reviewing your link profile in preparation could be essential to avoid a day-one penalty when it finally rolls out.” Sports retailers that rely on online sales as a major source of revenue should take note of this advice. With Google attracting almost three times more monthly visitors that the next most popular search engine, the level at which a website appears in its search rankings is vital to making sales. After the coming Google Penguin update, it could be more than a year until it is next updated or refreshed. For small or online-only businesses, failing to adequately prepare for this update and being relegated to the bench of Google – or blacklisted altogether – could be make or break.
Useful definitions
Algorithms The computer processes and formulas that Google uses to take questions and turn them into answers.
DisavowGoogle’s link disavowal tool allows publishers to tell Google that they don’t want certain links from external sites to be considered as part of Google’s system of counting links to rank web sites.
Keyword stuffing Using excessive keywords in your content in order to manipulate your site’s rankings.
Link farm a set of web pages created with the sole aim of linking to a target page, in an attempt to improve that page's search engine ranking.
SEO Search engine optimisation is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's unpaid, or natural, results
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