You just want to scream so loud at Google or curse them out. Why did Google nail your website and not those spammy link farm websites in the search engine rankings? Google introduced a website killer called the Penguin update. Why do they use animals for names is the thing that puzzle’s me the most. Anyways, this update was supposed to help fight the Keyword stuffing, Link schemes, Cloaking, “sneaky” redirects or “doorway” pages and Purposeful duplicate content. A lot of webmasters over the past few weeks since this first launch have criticized Google for not getting this update right. Yes, some search results for some good keywords still have spam sites ranked well. In a way, I’ve gained more traffic on this blog because of the Penguin update.
Why did my traffic increase? Well, I have fully investigated all of my stat’s but I know what set’s me apart from my competitors for one of my long tail keywords is that my content is original and I write most of it. All blog posts are checked for duplicate before approving. Now I can’t stop the author from submitting it elsewhere but I’d like to be the first blog to index the blog post. Perhaps Google can tell who had the original blog post. A lot of bloggers I know have to many ads above the fold that makes the blog look spammy. Also there blogs are usually filled with spun articles and they might even be getting duplicate content from SEOLinkvine.
Now I’ve heard people say if you are following Google’s Guidelines, you should never get hit by a Google algorithm update like the Penguin one. They are wrong because Google doesn’t always enforce their own rules and can’t get an update to actually find and deindex the link farms, keyword stuffed and purchasing links for link juice websites. As much as Google’s antic’s get on my nerves, I’ll still continue to use them for searching and use their product’s. What I know that I could do is use Google’s Report feature and report sites.
If you think that the Penguin update was a onetime thing then you are wrong. Matt Cutt’s late last night announced an update. Penguin 1.1 effects the English searches. I’m still trying to get more details on this small update. I’ve noticed no change in some keyword search’s. Still useless sites ranking over the quality ones. You know what is really strange, Bing provided a few Google Penguin Update Recovery Tips this past Friday. Bing should be working on stealing Google’s traffic and work on their own algorithm that could change how search engines work in the future. Bing needs to do something to improve their search results. They still suck but I like how they integrating the social part into their search results.
Don’t feed the Penguin. Keep things simple on your website. All content should be original, write for the people and don’t write for the search engines. Have a good clean template with not a ton of huge ads everywhere and work on getting traffic from the social network’s. Heck this is what I do most of the time. I don’t buy links or exchange links (Yes I have a link to us page but I won’t link back to you). I no longer submit to article directories or Web directories. (Not that many good ones left that not been nailed by the Google updates)
Ok, my little rant is over. I wouldn’t call what I mentioned advice, just wanted to get things off my chest and write. Your thoughts?
About Derek
Hi Derek,
Well you are right that Google doesn’t implements its own guidelines many-a-times. But I think its just the lack of perfection in their algorithm not their intention to do so. Whether it be Panda or Penguin the algorithms need time and some corrections over a period of time to be perfect. So for now, those who don’t deserve to be penalized will have to strive through these tough times.
I know that the more webmasters complain and the more sites they report using the forum i linked us to, Google may get a tweak right one of these times. Hopefully the small ma and pop websites can get through any problems they are having with Google and still survive.
Why do they use animals, and why in the last two updates have those animals been black and white? What makes it even more ironic is that the results (the SERPs or the actual results of the algorithmic changes) are anything BUT black and white. They are the most confusing thing ever.
Let’s forget what Google did get right (because clearly they did get rid of some spam). The problem is the way in which Google does these things creates a massive amount of collateral damage. The amount that if you were in a war wouldn’t be acceptable by any means.
I’ve found my blog ultra weighted in Google post-Penguin. It ranks within 5 minutes of posting, and it ranks strongly. Perhaps it has always been this way however, I have noticed it more after the initial Penguin update (not the algo refresh). I love your analogy regarding feeding the hungry and crazy bird. Brings new meaning to the term “Angry Birds”, cos that’s what this one definitely is!
Your blog/website has been around for a long time and always puts out quality content. Any zoo animal should be scared to go near your site. Angry birds reminds me of a guy at work who wore a angry birds t-shirt Friday at work. lol