What does the new Google update mean for you?
The Penguin 4.0 update. If you’re a part of the SEO world, you’ve heard about the new update within the past few weeks. If you haven’t or don’t know what Penguin is, here’s a quick rundown.
Google’s Penguin Algorithm:
The initial Penguin update in 2012 dealt with links on a website. Google penalized any sites with low-quality, or spam, links. High-quality, or valuable links, were rewarded with better ranking. Since Penguin 1.0, it has been updated twice to 2.0 in 2013 and 3.0 in 2013. Since 2013, it only received small refreshes or updates. Nothing too significant. This became a problem for SEO experts because the wait time to see changes would take months.
Now that Penguin 4.0 update has been announced, it has changed the SEO landscape as a whole.
This new update goes through websites continuously now. You read that right. Google’s Penguin algorithm updates in real-time now. So there’s not much waiting to improve your rankings. On the flip side, if you’ve been penalized before due to bad links or have been using low-quality links, you will be penalized almost immediately.
With previous Penguin algorithms, if you were penalized your whole site/domain would suffer. Now with 4.0, only that individual page will be penalized. So now you don’t have to look through every page to try and find what was being penalized. It makes fixing these pages much easier and less time-consuming.
How Do You Take Advantage of the Penguin 4.0 Update?
Constant updates! Any changes you make to your web pages SEO will be seen sooner rather than later. So any experimenting you do with keywords or link building will be seen in weeks instead of months. And due to the small constant updates, the impact you’ll be seeing will be smaller with Penguin. Instead of a jump from rank 90 to 50, you’ll see a jump from 90 to 80 to 60 and eventually to 50. 
If your site has been marked as spam or has suffered penalties, coming out of that whole is going to be much faster. Since the algorithm is refreshing constantly, it’ll be quicker to get out of Google’s bad graces. This will speed up the process and save time and improve rankings.
Link building is still important (it’s one of the top three ranking factors by Google itself), even more so in this update. Internal linking always helps improve your site and ranking. Make sure that the links used aren’t broken!
Now that Penguin 4.0 update has been rolled out, it’ll most likely be the last update. Google confirmed that Penguin will no longer receive updates. It integrated 4.0 into its core search algorithm and since it’s constantly updating, there really isn’t room for a major update.
Your site may or may not have been affected by this update, it released on September 23rd, 2016, so the rollout process might take some time. Google confirmed today (October 13) that the rollout is complete. If you haven’t fixed or cleaned up your links, we suggest doing that now rather than later. Remember it updates constantly!
Seen any changes? Let us know on Facebook, or send us a snap! We’d love to hear from you!
More Perspectives:
How Good Design Can Help Tell Your Organization’s Story
eCommerce – Why SEO Alone Isn’t Enough
5 Steps to Creating a Successful Digital Marketing Strategy
FAQs
What is the Penguin 4.0 update, and how does it impact SEO?
The Penguin 4.0 update is an algorithm change by Google that targets websites with low-quality or spammy links. Unlike previous versions, Penguin 4.0 updates in real-time, allowing faster improvements or penalties based on your link-building practices. This makes it crucial to focus on high-quality links for better rankings.
How does Penguin 4.0 differ from previous Penguin updates?
Penguin 4.0 updates in real-time, meaning any changes to your website’s SEO are reflected faster. Unlike older versions, it penalizes individual pages rather than the entire site. This makes it easier to fix issues without having to rework your entire website.
What should I do if my website was penalized by the Penguin 4.0 update?
If your website was penalized by Penguin 4.0, clean up any low-quality or spammy links pointing to your site. Since the algorithm updates continuously, your website will recover much faster once those bad links are removed, allowing for improved rankings without long wait times.
How can I take advantage of the Penguin 4.0 update?
Take advantage of Penguin 4.0 by consistently monitoring and improving your link-building strategy. Focus on obtaining high-quality, valuable backlinks and regularly updating your SEO practices. Since the algorithm updates in real-time, improvements will reflect quickly, allowing for a more agile approach to ranking improvements.