What Is Google Penguin? Explained

What is the Google Penguin algorithm?

The Google Penguin algorithm is an update of the search engine from 2012. The Google Penguin update was primarily aimed at identifying and penalizing over-optimized websites. Because this procedure was a common way of doing search engine optimization until 2012. The consequence of over-optimized pages was that while Google gave them a good ranking, they didn't have clear answers written for the reader. The Penguin update has therefore been part of the core algorithm since September 23, 2016 and has permanently changed the SEO world. The search engine has thus taken a big step towards breaking up backlink structures and checking their "honesty and sustainability".

What are Google's goals with the Penguin update?

The main purpose of the Google Penguin update was to penalize websites with manipulated links. What Google perceives as manipulation can be found in its guidelines for webmasters. In them, Google recommends, among other things, not to participate in link exchange programs. In addition, pages with too many backlinks are no longer effective. And the credibility of the linked pages was also transferred to their own website, which sometimes leads to large ranking losses.

What is Google Penguin 2.0?

After the Google Update Penguin came out in April 2012, there were minor changes in the same year. Penguin 2.0 from 2013, on the other hand, was more than just a small variation. It was sort of like a new generation of the update. Basically, the goal associated with the update remained the same: Google wants to downgrade websites that do not meet the search engine's quality guidelines. At that time, however, Google had found new ways to distinguish natural from unnatural, bad links and backlinks. Google itself said that the spam detection technology had been significantly further developed and optimized. This probably also meant that the analysis as part of the Penguin 2.0 update penetrated deeper than before into the page structure. A total of 2.3 percent of all websites with English-language search queries are said to have been downgraded by Penguin 2.0. And of course Penguin 2.0 also received smaller follow-up updates like Penguin 2.1 in October 2013.

When did the Google Penguin updates happen?

Penguin 1.0 saw the light of day on April 24, 2012. In the same year there were two minor changes. Namely on May 26th and October 5th. Such smaller changes are also referred to as data refreshes . For them "only" the database is changed, which the updates require for their functionality. Major changes, on the other hand, affect the algorithms themselves. On May 22, 2013, Penguin 2.0 brought such a change. Penguin 2.0 was then modified on October 4th, 2013 (data refresh).

There were other major changes with Penguin 3.0 on October 27, 2014 and with Penguin 4.0 on October 9, 2016. Since 2016, the Penguin update has been part of Google's core algorithm. Previously it was artificially triggered as a program to filter out qualitatively insufficient sites. Only mature updates are added to the core of Google's algorithm, which the search engine uses to "decide" rankings. Since Penguin has reached this level of maturity, the update now takes effect every time the Google crawlers scan a page.

How often does the rollout take place?

The Google Penguin update has already been fully rolled out. With the transfer to the core algorithm, at most data refreshes are carried out. However, a rollout already took place in 2012.

A fixed schedule for a rollout of Google updates cannot be identified in retrospect either. However, there is something of a recognizable structure that at least the Google updates Panda and Penguin share. At some point the update will be rolled out in its version 1.0. In the period that follows, there is often a change from smaller changes (data refresh) to larger ones, until the respective update is mature and incorporated into the Google core algorithm. Google announces at least the major updates. In the event of sudden major changes in the ranking of your own website on Google, you can analyze whether this is the result of a Google update.

What does Google mean by web spam?

Google aimed to curb web spam with the Penguin algorithm. But what does Google call web spam?

In addition to such general rules, Google also has very specific rules: According to Google, one should avoid, among other things, automatically generated content, hidden texts (which should only be read by the search engine) and participation in link exchange programs. Last but not least, the Google Penguin update was used to take action against such link exchange campaigns.

What are unnatural links?

A natural link that the webmaster of website A places on another webmaster's website B (backlink) is always an expression of the high value of website B. The webmaster of site A considers the content of the linked site B to be so good that they offer added value to their own visitors. Such a link is an indication for Google that the content of page B is good and that it is suitable as a search result for suitable search queries. However, there are some motives for setting links that Google doesn't like to see:

1. This includes, for example, setting an (unnatural) link based on an agreed link exchange from which both websites should benefit.
2. Even if someone sets a link for money , it is an unnatural link for Google.
3. And besides unnatural links, there are also unnatural anchor texts for the search engine. If you use too many important keywords as the anchor text of links, you will be suspicious.

Can my website be penalized for unnatural links?

The answer is yes. SEO studies show connections between Google penalties (penalties) and unnatural links . Both outgoing and incoming links can be problematic. This means: If you set an unnatural link yourself, it can damage your own website. However, damage to your own site can also occur if a link from a site that uses unclean SEO methods leads to your own site.

Google's penalties sometimes only apply to individual keywords. Then a website may only rank significantly worse than before for the keyword "household insurance". However, a penalty can also include a specific website or even an entire website for each relevant search query. As a rule, however, a small offense does not lead to a large penalty.

How can you tell if you're affected by the Penguin update?

If you want to notice in good time whether your own website has been penalized by Google, you should keep an eye on key figures such as the number of website visitors per day or the ranking of your own website for certain keywords . In general, in the past one learned when Google launched a new Penguin update. If you noticed a significantly reduced number of visitors or a significantly reduced visibility of the page soon after the update was rolled out, this was a strong indication of a negative effect of the update.

Since Penguin is now part of the core Google algorithm and there are no more rollouts at a certain point in time, it has become a bit more difficult to clearly attribute penalties to this update. However, if an analysis of the incoming and outgoing links for your own website reveals a large number of unnatural links, there is likely a connection between the penalty and this type of linking.

What to do if affected by the Google Penguin?

As soon as it has become clear that your own website violates the criteria that Google has checked with Penguin, you should take a close look at the link structure of your website and take a look at both incoming and outgoing links . Then you remove as many links as possible that Google classifies as unnatural from your own website. At the same time, as a webmaster of site X, one should ask the operators of other sites to remove unnatural links that refer to site X. Removing bad backlinks is possible with Google Search Console's Disavow Tool .

It is also important to look at the anchor texts of the links on your own site . Anchor text is the words you click on to follow a link. If they consist mainly of important keywords for a page, Google often assumes that the link is unnatural. In general, it is therefore important to break down unnatural links, but at the same time to build up natural links. She is still valuable.

How are Google Updates Penguin and Panda different?

Like Google Penguin, Google Panda is an update intended to penalize websites that have been artificially ranked higher in Google because they do not serve the interests of Google users, or do so insufficiently. However, Panda and Penguin each have a slightly different focus. The Panda update, introduced in 2011, was all about the quality of a website's page content. Websites were penalized, for example, if they contained little of their own content or if texts were peppered with keywords. A short retention time by users and a high bounce rate were also indications of insufficiently good content. Penguin, on the other hand, focused primarily on linking, i.e. the relationship between pages.

Google Penguin and its importance for SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) used to be relatively easy because Google was relatively easy to influence. As a webmaster, for example, you sometimes integrated a large number of keywords into your page, even if it impaired the readability of a text. Google then often listed the page high up in the search results as soon as the respective word was used for a search query. The search engine was initially unable to differentiate between natural and unnatural links, which left plenty of room for manipulation like link buying. As a result, websites sometimes came well up in the search result lists, even though their content was rather unsatisfactory for visitors. That was neither in the interest of the visitors nor in the interest of Google. Updates like Penguin have made Google smarter and more sensitive to web spam. While SEO still makes sense, it must not consist of overly clumsy attempts at fraud. For an intelligent search engine, intelligent SEO is required.