Today I’m talking about Penguin, but not those little birds you find at the zoo. The type of penguin I’m talking about that sewer dwelling psycho, waddling around with his weird nose and cane, trying to wreak havoc on our lovely Gotham City. If you don’t get my Batman reference, just think of Gotham City as the internet, and maybe you can follow along.

Welcome to The Gotham Underground

Let’s sum Penguin up in a (couple of) nutshells before we roll into how it might affect your website.

Nutshell 1: Penguin is an algorithmic update that Google launched a few a years ago that targets websites that are trying to influence search rankings by spamming the internet with poor (unnatural) linking.

Want another Batman reference? Think of Danny Devito’s army of Penguins, those little guys are your links. And they’re spamming Gotham, hard.

Nutshell 2: Link networks, buying links, creating unnatural links, etc., are still considered black hat strategies. So, don’t do it. Google (our internet caped crusader) will shut you down and penalize your site, which can lead to less relevance, less traffic and, most importantly, FEWER LEADS. Don’t. Do it.

Should I Fear the Dark Knight?

Maybe…

Whilst developing and executing an SEO strategy, all you really have to do is keep it best practiced focused and you’ll be ok. Take a look at your website or talk to your agency and make sure the techniques they’re using to rank your website aren’t spammy. Want to look at a few things yourself? Here’s what you can do.

• Take a look at your website. Overall, is it something that offers strong, relevant content to your audience? (Penguin was originally focused on link spam but now Google recommends maintaining a high quality of content, regardless of the algorithm change/update)

• Get familiar with Google Search Console. Do the links pointing to your website look relevant? Are they coming from reputable sources (websites – not the Gotham Asylum)? Ex: Are you seeing links from websites from other countries like prlog.ru or .es sites, etc.

• Are the links that are sending traffic to your website sending users that are engaged? Meaning, how does your page-by-page bounce rate look? Are people spending more or less time on your site? Get familiar with, and spend a little time in your Google analytics account.

Short list, right? It’s business as usual if you’re doing the right thing. If you’re considering “dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight,” the Bat will catch you.

Lastly, the biggest change with Penguin is that it will no longer be periodically updated. Penguin is now a core part, running in real time, of Google’s search algorithm. So again, keep it clean, keep it natural, and Google will continue to reward your website.

If you’re still a little confused about Penguin or think your site may have been effected, email me at donpcg@gmail.com and we can walk through it together.