It’s official. Google’s latest algorithm tweak, Penguin 4.0, has been fully implemented and stands ready to smack website owners everywhere with a flipper upside the head if they try any contrary SEO techniques. According to the search engine behemoth, the latest version of Penguin now runs in real time. It might take a while to discern the complete bottom line impact of the update but we can certainly make educated guesses. Any time Google changes its algorithm we expect there will be a tsunami of inadvertent penalties incurred by those who were playing by the rules of the last update.
Equal in the Eyes of the Law
Okay, maybe Google isn’t the actual law but it sure seems like it to those who make their living on precise SEO tweaks. It used to be that algorithm adjustments would be tested in one geographic location before being rolled out to the rest of the world a little bit at a time. With Penguin 4.0, all changes apply equally to everyone instantly. For better or worse, that means that those in far-flung corners of the globe no longer have time to figure out how the rest of the world adapts and make their own changes accordingly.
In a quote liable to strike fear in the hearts of webmasters everywhere, Google’s Gary Illyes wrote: “Historically, the list of sites affected by Penguin was periodically refreshed at the same time. Now Penguin is real-time, so changes will be visible much faster, typically taking effect shortly after we recrawl and reindex a page.”
Real-Time Means Real-Time
By real-time, Google apparently means actual real-time. Both positive and negative impacts will be realized much sooner, like the very next time a spider crawls your website. The bottom line is that whatever you’re going to learn about your SEO efforts from Penguin 4.0, you’re going to learn it quickly. Breath-holders won’t have to hold it quite as long this time around. If you paid close attention to that quote up there from Illyes, you should realize that there’s actually a good side to the new concept of real-time.
Faster Recovery
As we mentioned, it used to be that getting smacked with a Google penalty yanked you to the back of the line for search results and, even when you made needed changes, it might take months to work yourself back onto the first page. Theoretically, recovery from a penalty now should happen as soon as Google recrawls your page. Obviously, there are no guarantees it will work like this, but the general idea is that bouncing back from an SEO transgression shouldn’t torpedo your business the way it had been known to happen in the past. Provided you make the necessary changes, of course.
The Last Penguin
Up until now Penguin has run as a separate filter in conjunction with the core algorithm. Not any more. There will be no further updates on Penguin because has been incorporated into the main algorithm. For better or worse, at least the word “penguin” will no longer strike fear into the bellies of SEO experts everywhere. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Penguin’s laser focus on toxic backlinks continues, so your monitoring duties just increased exponentially. How? Keep reading.
A Million Grains of Sand
One of the most noticeable impacts of Penguin 4.0 is an increased granularity in approach. We already know that the update was created to take a long, hard look at the pages junk links point to and give them a good examination. The concept of “website” has become less important than that of “web page.” Rather than have your entire website penalized, expect Google to begin issuing micro-penalties to specific pages that are linked to. Where as before a transgression would result in an entire website being rendered invisible in search results, a penalty aimed at a single page might not come to your attention as quickly.
In the real world this means you need to monitor important subdomains and pages more closely. A cursory check to make sure your home page still sits on page one of search results will no longer be sufficient. If your livelihood relies on your website being discoverable, now would be a good time to set up an auditing schedule to make sure you don’t get hit with sneak penalty.
Get Proactive
As with most things in life, your best bet to guard against possible negative Penguin impact is to get proactive about it. The insidious part about Penguin is there are no overt signs that you’ve incurred a penalty until you notice a drop in organic traffic or rejection of some of your keywords, even ones you’ve previously ranked well with.
As we’ve already mentioned, a deep monitoring of your website is now more critical than ever. Also pay attention to those backlinks! Regularly check new and old backlinks. If you find something suspicious, use the Google Disavow Tool to let the algorithm know you realize it’s a trashy backlink and you have nothing to do with it. This should prevent a forthcoming penalty.
If there’s one thing we know for certain, it’s that a certain percentage of SEO masters will try to game the system. They might see it as a better climate for pushing the boundaries since, in theory, recovery is faster. Just don’t forget that Google (like Orwell’s Big Brother) is always watching. If you continually try gray/black hat techniques, you can bet the pattern will be noted somewhere out there. Is it worth taking the chance? To some, the answer is always “yes.”
The possible detriment to this way of thinking is that Google has all the power and an individual website owner has none. It’s like poking a bear with a stick. He may sit there and do nothing but grunt for days, but when he decides to move, your grave is already dug and waiting for the corpse to arrive.