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3 Quick And Easy Ways To Make The Most Of The Penguin Update

Google is at it again. Last summer it was and this spring it is Penguin. The giant search engine is always trying to stay one step ahead of Internet marketers. Many Internet marketers were hit pretty hard with this latest Penguin update. Instead of going into detail about what the Penguin update exactly is, this article will explore 3 quick and easy ways that you can make the most of the latest update.

Anchor Text Diversification

Many webmasters received an “unnatural links” email as soon as the Penguin update hit. For most, they receive this e-mail because of one or two things: either they were engaging in blog networks or their link anchor text was all the same.

Before the Penguin update, many SEO types put a huge emphasis on anchor text. They said that if you could have exact match anchor text links you would be on your way to the top of Google. This caused a huge rush of individuals trying to get their exact anchor text to match with the keywords they were going for. Many over-optimized their anchor text. Since Google is mostly concerned with a natural link profile, having all of the same words as your link text sent red flags to the big G.

Now that websites are being punished for overly optimized anchor text link profiles, the weight is finally off of your shoulders, as a webmaster. There is no more need to over-optimize and bend over backwards to get that exact anchor texts match.

Run Away From Black Hat Tactics

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. If Panda update didn’t already confirm it for you, then hopefully the Penguin update did. Google is putting a lot of money and effort into making sure black hat tactics do not work.

One of the easiest things that you can do as a webmaster is to simply avoid these tactics. Honestly, black hat tactics are expensive. The list of automated link building software programs that use only black hat techniques is long and is an expensive one.

By simply avoiding these tactics you have already made your site better.

Unique Content

This is by far the quickest and easiest way to capitalize on the Penguin update. Penguin punished sites that were over optimized and thin on content. If you provide a 1/2 decent blog post, you are already way ahead of many of the sites that were penalized in the latest update.

You don’t necessarily have to write the content yourself, if you have the budget you can always outsource this. The point is, you need unique content, and you need more of it. You can really kill two birds with one stone by implementing unique content into your website.

As you implement your own content into your website, you will automatically generate a more natural looking link profile. How will this happen? Easy. Social bookmarking, forum posting, and blog commenting.

If you are producing stuff that people actually want to read and engage with, they will build links for you. This is the web that Google is trying to create. This is why they put so much emphasis on unnatural link building as a black hat tactic.

By following these three quick and easy ways to make the most of the pain and update you can use Google’s updates to catapult your site to the top.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Fortunately I haven’t noticed too much impact from the Penguin update, I don’t buy backlink packages and I just write and publish so don’t really do any major SEO linking except leaving a comment here and there and the rare guest post.

    • Hi Justin, I, too, haven’t been adversely affected. And, I think you called it… I don’t buy backlink packages, etc., either, just write and publish 😉 -Deborah

  • ICCIEV says:

    Hi Deborah,

    Well at the end this is the best we can do, to write the content we live in our style for our readers and to do article marketing and use social media. If you start to think about and deeply deploy SEO you will only get into trouble, why? because it’s always changing and now Google has major update quarterly, second becuase Google at the end is a company that wants to make money, their decisions when it comes to updating their search engine is not aimed to make the internet a better place but to make them more profitable, a good example would be the low quality sites, removing low quality and spammy sites will help Google safe more time and more money trying to index these sites from their storage.

    • Great point! And, I really like your article on having a sales page on Facebook (see above link)… it makes sense to work with what we have, even if it is not ideal. In the end, build a good business (be it a blog or other) and engage people, with sincerity. Hopefully, giving good content pays off, somehow, regardless of any obstacles that appear.

  • Cindy says:

    Also let me add about importance of going slow with link building, getting links from different sources and creating your social presence (links on facebook, twitter, youtube etc) This way no update will be scary.

  • bollywood movies 2012 says:

    Hi guys thanks for share such type of great information

  • I haven’t received the email and haven’t noticed any effect on my blog from Panda or Penguin – knock on wood. The only thing I’m concerned is everyone keeps mentioning Blog Networks and I belong to several. I really enjoy a couple of them and would hate to leave them because Google wants to get pushy. Can you be more specific about blog networks? Are you referring to sites like Blog Engage?

    • That is a good question on “Blog Networks.” It is my understanding that Ludwing is referring to networks that are more linking-based than relationship-based. I view Blog Engage as relationship-based, and more of a social media and social networking approach. There is an interesting article, here-> seomoz.org. Thanks for the food for thought. -Deborah

  • Gold Blog says:

    How about changing up the content? Google mentioned, warning us weeks prior that they would begin targeting those who are overly optimized. This was especially against websites who relied solely on Google’s Keyword Tool to create 10 or 20 pages of essentially the same article spun or just written very similarly. By targeting a variety of keywords as well as having a wide array of anchor texts you can avoid these updates. Too optimized means you are not writing for humans first, which is one thing Google also warned of.

    • You brought out a great point, Gold Blog, that, if we generally focus on good content, and writing for humans, that we should be ok. I get the point about optimizing, but I guess I am already so human-focused that I err on the side of writing content more so than writing for bots. Sounds like you are saying that that is a good approach. Thanks for stating that 😉

  • Marnie Byod says:

    Now I know why penguin punished those sites that are over optimized and not creating a unique content. This is a selfish manner of optimization. Many people hates Penguin since it was introduced by Google.

    • Hi Marnie,

      Interesting perspective. Causes one to think. I am probably too focused on trying to present quality content to stop and worry about Google’s next change… Maybe I should?

      Thanks 😉
      -Deborah

  • John Ernest says:

    The penguin update really eliminated the need for black hat tactics. Through that, you can focus more on delivering content and not on ranking at the top of Google. It is only through proper content that people will be able to be popular among their visitors and not in any black hat tactic that only delivers half-baked websites.

    • John,

      Love your verbiage, “half-baked websites.” Many of use hand-craft our sites and rewards for those who diligently create and create quality is definitely due. I like the focus on that quality 🙂

      -Deborah

  • Jeremy says:

    The Penguin update is certainly a giant leap from Google to make its criteria of result ranks influenced by real users. It would certainly ensure a check on SEO or rather spammers who have been deteriorating the web.

  • affordable backlink service says:

    Never use Black hat techniques because they are the illegal way of doing SEO just to get rank. It only spam the search engines which Google don’t want to happen because it will ruin the reliablity and authenticity of the search results.

  • Jack Smith says:

    You have some really good ideas in this article. I am glad I read this. I agree with much of what you state in this article. Your information is thought-provoking, interesting and well-written.

  • anne alan says:

    HELLO , i would like to thank you about your efforts to give us effective useful information about Google Penguin . If it’s okay with you to add that. First thing you quickly have to do when you discover that your website is punished by Google’s penguin update is to check google’s webmaster tool in order to discover the errors to fix them and if you still didin’t
    find any errors you can use the file reconsedration request on google’ webmaster tool for making google have a second look on your website for fixing any new errors on it . Thanks a lot and Best regards

  • article is very useful and I get a lot of knowledge from your article, especially about Run Away From Black Hat Tactics. thank you very much for the information you provided.

    • Justin Germino May 10, 2012 @ 17:55

      Fortunately I haven’t noticed too much impact from the Penguin update, I don’t buy backlink packages and I just write and publish so don’t really do any major SEO linking except leaving a comment here and there and the rare guest post.

      • Deborah E. Anderson May 11, 2012 @ 13:37

        Hi Justin, I, too, haven’t been adversely affected. And, I think you called it… I don’t buy backlink packages, etc., either, just write and publish 😉 -Deborah

    • ICCIEV May 16, 2012 @ 13:20

      Hi Deborah,

      Well at the end this is the best we can do, to write the content we live in our style for our readers and to do article marketing and use social media. If you start to think about and deeply deploy SEO you will only get into trouble, why? because it’s always changing and now Google has major update quarterly, second becuase Google at the end is a company that wants to make money, their decisions when it comes to updating their search engine is not aimed to make the internet a better place but to make them more profitable, a good example would be the low quality sites, removing low quality and spammy sites will help Google safe more time and more money trying to index these sites from their storage.

      • Deborah E. Anderson May 16, 2012 @ 17:39

        Great point! And, I really like your article on having a sales page on Facebook (see above link)… it makes sense to work with what we have, even if it is not ideal. In the end, build a good business (be it a blog or other) and engage people, with sincerity. Hopefully, giving good content pays off, somehow, regardless of any obstacles that appear.

    • Cindy May 17, 2012 @ 12:45

      Also let me add about importance of going slow with link building, getting links from different sources and creating your social presence (links on facebook, twitter, youtube etc) This way no update will be scary.

      • Deborah E. Anderson May 25, 2012 @ 9:52

        Very good point, Cindy, about going slow. Isn’t there a saying about quality taking time? Thanks for sharing the tips. -Deborah

    • bollywood movies 2012 May 31, 2012 @ 1:30

      Hi guys thanks for share such type of great information

    • Brian D. Hawkins Jun 2, 2012 @ 9:04

      I haven’t received the email and haven’t noticed any effect on my blog from Panda or Penguin – knock on wood. The only thing I’m concerned is everyone keeps mentioning Blog Networks and I belong to several. I really enjoy a couple of them and would hate to leave them because Google wants to get pushy. Can you be more specific about blog networks? Are you referring to sites like Blog Engage?

      • Deborah E. Anderson Jun 6, 2012 @ 17:33

        That is a good question on “Blog Networks.” It is my understanding that Ludwing is referring to networks that are more linking-based than relationship-based. I view Blog Engage as relationship-based, and more of a social media and social networking approach. There is an interesting article, here-> seomoz.org. Thanks for the food for thought. -Deborah

    • Gold Blog Jun 5, 2012 @ 13:51

      How about changing up the content? Google mentioned, warning us weeks prior that they would begin targeting those who are overly optimized. This was especially against websites who relied solely on Google’s Keyword Tool to create 10 or 20 pages of essentially the same article spun or just written very similarly. By targeting a variety of keywords as well as having a wide array of anchor texts you can avoid these updates. Too optimized means you are not writing for humans first, which is one thing Google also warned of.

      • Deborah E. Anderson Jun 6, 2012 @ 17:35

        You brought out a great point, Gold Blog, that, if we generally focus on good content, and writing for humans, that we should be ok. I get the point about optimizing, but I guess I am already so human-focused that I err on the side of writing content more so than writing for bots. Sounds like you are saying that that is a good approach. Thanks for stating that 😉

    • Marnie Byod Jul 4, 2012 @ 18:19

      Now I know why penguin punished those sites that are over optimized and not creating a unique content. This is a selfish manner of optimization. Many people hates Penguin since it was introduced by Google.

      • Deborah E. Anderson Jul 6, 2012 @ 18:25

        Hi Marnie,

        Interesting perspective. Causes one to think. I am probably too focused on trying to present quality content to stop and worry about Google’s next change… Maybe I should?

        Thanks 😉
        -Deborah

    • John Ernest Jul 7, 2012 @ 0:30

      The penguin update really eliminated the need for black hat tactics. Through that, you can focus more on delivering content and not on ranking at the top of Google. It is only through proper content that people will be able to be popular among their visitors and not in any black hat tactic that only delivers half-baked websites.

      • Deborah E. Anderson Jul 8, 2012 @ 11:52

        John,

        Love your verbiage, “half-baked websites.” Many of use hand-craft our sites and rewards for those who diligently create and create quality is definitely due. I like the focus on that quality 🙂

        -Deborah

    • Jeremy Jul 13, 2012 @ 1:26

      The Penguin update is certainly a giant leap from Google to make its criteria of result ranks influenced by real users. It would certainly ensure a check on SEO or rather spammers who have been deteriorating the web.

    • affordable backlink service May 6, 2013 @ 18:18

      Never use Black hat techniques because they are the illegal way of doing SEO just to get rank. It only spam the search engines which Google don’t want to happen because it will ruin the reliablity and authenticity of the search results.

      • Deborah E. Anderson Jun 26, 2013 @ 14:31

        We prefer legitimate methods of SEO. Thank you for weighing in on the subject.

    • Jack Smith May 30, 2013 @ 23:23

      You have some really good ideas in this article. I am glad I read this. I agree with much of what you state in this article. Your information is thought-provoking, interesting and well-written.

      • Deborah E. Anderson Jun 27, 2013 @ 3:01

        Thank you, Jack. Do you work in the SEO realm? Fun to keep up with all the changes, eh? lol.

    • anne alan Sep 10, 2013 @ 2:45

      HELLO , i would like to thank you about your efforts to give us effective useful information about Google Penguin . If it’s okay with you to add that. First thing you quickly have to do when you discover that your website is punished by Google’s penguin update is to check google’s webmaster tool in order to discover the errors to fix them and if you still didin’t
      find any errors you can use the file reconsedration request on google’ webmaster tool for making google have a second look on your website for fixing any new errors on it . Thanks a lot and Best regards

      • Deborah E. Anderson Dec 7, 2013 @ 21:46

        Yes, anne, checking to see if there is any penalty against your site is very important, and a key “first step.”

    • korset pelangsing Nov 18, 2013 @ 1:25

      article is very useful and I get a lot of knowledge from your article, especially about Run Away From Black Hat Tactics. thank you very much for the information you provided.

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