Google Launches Update Targeting Spam... Again? Penguin Update

[netmeg]

Matt Cutts "In the next few days, we’re launching an important algorithm change targeted at webspam. The change will decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating Google’s existing quality guidelines. We’ve always targeted webspam in our rankings, and this algorithm represents another improvement in our efforts to reduce webspam and promote high quality content. While we can't divulge specific signals because we don't want to give people a way to game our search results and worsen the experience for users, our advice for webmasters is to focus on creating high quality sites that create a good user experience and employ white hat SEO methods instead of engaging in aggressive webspam tactics."

[insidesearch.blogspot.com...]

Sites affected by this change might not be easily recognizable as spamming without deep analysis or expertise, but the common thread is that these sites are doing much more than white hat SEO; we believe they are engaging in webspam tactics to manipulate search engine rankings.

[edited by: Brett_Tabke at 4:31 pm (utc) on Apr 25, 2012]
[edit reason] added quotes - updated link [/edit]

[nuthin]

Hah! Just sounds like you don't know how to do proper SEO the right way. I rank clients sites just fine by using ethical techniques. Pity most "blackhat" SEO's have no clue how to do this, thus they have to resort to spam and blah blah blah blah blah blah.

[bluntforce]

If you get together with your blackhat buddies for a beer on a regular basis, why do you just now complain about Google results?

XRumer provided some benefit in a given timeframe. I suppose if you are really sharp and have a totally new approach, it might work to get some rankings back. Honestly, it sounds like you're starting to dig a deeper hole. Best of luck.

[c41lum]

Baseball Guy has some very valid points, I have had a couple clients who have pulled a major (5 figure) developments of a new sites because of the risk that the site may get hit in the future. I think SME's will start to change there strategy of creating quality sites. And just start making cheap sites where it doesn't matter if they get hit or not.

Lets face it. A good websites cost money to create. And in recent times investing money into quality sites has became more and more risky.

[Jez123]

Yes I have recently invested heavily into my site. Time, stress and lots of money.

[reseller]

It seems Google's Panda Update and Penguin Update are fueling a growing anti-Google sentiment within the SEOes and Webmasters communities. Very sad situation, indeed.

[spreporter]

@reseller IMHO the growing anti-Google sentiment is mostly within the SEO industry that lost its business.

[netmeg]

Don't forget, all we hear here are the squeaky wheels.

[diberry]

What are you saying, BasballGuy? This algo wiped 2/3 of the traffic to one of my sites. But I've already gotten half that back by focusing a few minutes of attention a day on building my social media profile, and what I'm doing should scale up significantly.

I don't read anybody here as saying Google is lovely. They're a stinking big company, and just like Wal-Mart and Best Buy trying to get the government to force Amazon to charge sales tax, and just like the banks ruining the economy and then begging the government for corporate welfare, they're behaving like jerks. But that's business. That's how it is, and has always been. Google is not unique. And you are free to try to screw them back.

But that is not the only option. The other option is to diversify the companies/methods you rely on for traffic. It's the same principle as diversifying income streams.

You know what's really funny? This morning, my search traffic on my dinged site is up 82%. It's all Bing and Yahoo, who seem to be ranking me higher suddenly on the terms Google dinged me for.

The bottom line: Google is already not the only game in town. When they lose their dominance, and someday they will, you'll be blackhatting your way to success with someone who can't send you all that much traffic after all. We're just trying to encourage you to think longterm, that's all.

I'm going to go get my traffic up to normal levels now with social media, and then maybe Google will reinstate my traffic once they review my reinclusion request. But if not, I'm just going to build it beyond my former normal levels with social media anyway.

[edited by: tedster at 2:03 am (utc) on May 10, 2012]

[Jez123]

@ Nutmeg, Your compassion for people who have lost their livelihoods is a truly wondrous thing.

@ dilberry, congratulations. I want to diversify too. I am not seeing much more Bing and Yahoo traffic though. Do you mind if I PM you for a tip on what you are doing social media wise? I have social media stuff going but it's not getting me anywhere.

[netmeg]

And another post bites the dust.

[BaseballGuy]

But I've already gotten half that back by focusing a few minutes of attention a day on building my social media profile, and what I'm doing should scale up significantly.

Yeah, correlation does not necessarily mean causation. I too have seen an increase in traffic.....by just doing nothing. What you probably witnessed is Cutts rolling back the algorithm a bit after realizing many websites got unfairly dinged.

I concur with you on the Bing and Yahoo traffic increase.....I don't understand why, but my "penguinized" site has seen a TON of increased traffic with Yahoo and Bing. I wonder if they are all in collusion here to some degree?

The bottom line: Google is already not the only game in town. When they lose their dominance, and someday they will, you'll be blackhatting your way to success with someone who can't send you all that much traffic after all. We're just trying to encourage you to think longterm, that's all.

Thanks for the advice, but I'm already thinking long term and have been for many years now. That's why I'm not looking for a full time job.....I got enough in the bank to float me through this holocaust of a mess.

Second of all, I'd rather see less traffic from more diverse sources, than more traffic from one source. I HATE putting my eggs in one basket.

I'm going to go get my traffic up to normal levels now with social media, and then maybe Google will reinstate my traffic once they review my reinclusion request. But if not, I'm just going to build it beyond my former normal levels with social media anyway.

Not trying to be a debbie downer here.....but good luck with that. The way you write, it seems as if it's so easy to drive social media traffic without having to pay for it.

[spreporter]

@BBguy: LOL BaseballGuy you made my day :), although I know that we all live with expiring date :(

[diberry]

I can see where my increase in traffic is coming from in my stats program. It's mainly Pinterest and Facebook, where I've been focusing my efforts. Also Bing and Yahoo.

And I don't know what world you're living in, but if you have content people enjoy, then yeah, it's really easy to get them to spread the word about it without paying.

[edited by: tedster at 2:03 am (utc) on May 10, 2012]

[nippi]

I am up across all my sites, and all client sites and i suspect the lack of regulars posting here is becuase most are white hat as well, and not been effected

[chrisv1963]

I am up across all my sites, and all client sites and i suspect the lack of regulars posting here is becuase most are white hat as well, and not been effected

I am affected ... in a positive way. Traffic to all sites I manage went up. Thus, I'm very happy with the Penguin update. Also, it was great to see some known spammers in my niche disappear from the serps.

[tigger]

Anyone else seeing exact match domains being hit? I'm thinking there has been some tweaking in the authority ranking element for some.

just looked at 3 exact match sites I control all three are still holding first place along with inner pages still ranking well - They are quite competitive terms the top one pulling 1.3ml results

[crobb305]

Question about user-generated content (as it may pertain to webspam):

I have a few pages on a site devoted to user-submitted commentary (not a blog per se, but I post comments that are emailed to me from time to time). I am worried that the page(s) may be scored by various spam classifiers as spam. I always correct spelling, but the comments cumulatively may cover too many "money" phrases. I already have the comment section marked as a <div id ="comments">. Is this sufficient to tell the algorithm that it's user-generated? Should I noindex the entire page? When I do a site: search, I notice these pages are listed last, so I don't think they are held in high regard, and they could be bringing the entire site down. They have always been popular pages, and are some of my most-shared. I'm torn between spam classifiers for these pages vs. usefulness for my visitors.

[Philosopher]

crobb - It's situations exactly as yours that should not happen. It sounds like it is a valid resource that provides solid value to your visitors which is what Google has always "stated" they want, yet you are worried about it being a negative because of Google's heavy-handedness. Ridiculous!

[CainIV]

Baseball Guy:

Definitely you make some valid points. I don't think Google rewards white hat. I certainly wouldn't back that statement.

I think Google tries to reward sites that offer value and don't manipulate results. Are they doing a great job of that? Opinions at pennies on the dollar so it depends on who you ask.

It is definitely unfortunate that updates like this come along and rip apart perfectly good websites. It leaves a sour taste in people's mouth, and many people who have devoted to the 'Net as their way of life begin to become jaded and change their stance.

Everyone pays bills.

[BaseballGuy]

@Cain

I got nothing more to say really. Just need to be on my toes and be smarter, I suppose.

We're all out to game the search results for hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars every year.

If I'm ever fortunate enough to get asked to be the CEO of a major company and Matt Cutts name comes up for an employment application, I will make damn sure we discriminate against him and not hire him. I won't forget this.

Laugh if you will, but stranger things have happened....

[Zivush]

I will make damn sure we discriminate against him and not hire him.

You can be rest assured that he doesn't need anyone to hire him.

[reseller]

If I'm ever fortunate enough to get asked to be the CEO of a major company and Matt Cutts name comes up for an employment application, I will make damn sure we discriminate against him and not hire him. I won't forget this.

I think Matt Cutts would work as a teacher or researcher at a university (just like his Dad), if/when he decides to leave Google.

FYI, though I don't agree with all what Matt Cutts says or writes, I'm a big fan of Matt. In fact you may consider me as Cuttlett No. 1 :-)

[edited by: reseller at 1:00 pm (utc) on May 8, 2012]

[sunnyujjawal]

Waiting for Panther..a hope for me

[crobb305]

just checked stats and bounce rates have soared thanks to a surge of irrelevant Google traffic from other countries, including .co.uk (the site is U.S.-only). This whole thing is really silly. Penguin seems like a high school or college capstone project.

[Jez123]

I just notice in my last cache that google has only cached half of the home page text. I have never see that before.

[randle]

I won't forget this.

Try not to take it so personally. Its not Matt Cutts or any one person at Google that picked your site out of the pile. Its strictly the result of impersonal, mathematical algorithmic updates that have evolved over time into being more about producing results based on penalties than signals of quality. Unfortunate corporate philosophy? Yes. Way to much collateral damage incurred? Yes. Are the results looking like a directory of major product brands? Yes. A deliberate planned attach against BaseBallGuys site? No.

We have all been through it at one time or another, even the ones that for some reason struggle to admit it. Give it some time, usually sites that were victims of the regular collateral damage these things incur, come back over time.

[BaseballGuy]

Its strictly the result of impersonal, mathematical algorithmic updates that have evolved over time into being more about producing results based on penalties than signals of quality. Unfortunate corporate philosophy? Yes. Way to much collateral damage incurred? Yes. Are the results looking like a directory of major product brands? Yes. A deliberate planned attach against BaseBallGuys site? No.

I'm an artist. English major in college. My math teachers from grade 1 to when I graduated thought I was the anti-christ and rightfully so.

Art > Science and as of this morning, my rankings are back on page 1 after making a few minor adjustments over the past few weeks.

[diberry]

@crobb305 one of my sites is getting a mystifying increase in international traffic from the various local Googles. The site is new, so it's too early to say "It's Penguin" - could just be the regular algo still working out where the site belongs. And the site does get a decent amount of international traffic, even though it's predominantly US. This morning, it seems back to normal - mostly google.com, with a proportionate amount of other Googles mixed in.

@Jez123, there is some strange caching stuff with this update. I've got pages that are cached, and yet if I search a slab of text from them in quotes, I get results for everything BUT the exact page. Wonder if they're playing with changing how they cache stuff?

[unikat]

@BaseballGuy Can you tell us what are these minor adjustments that you did?

It's funny to see that my PR go up from PR3 to PR4 but my deindexed pages didn't restore from the penguin hit.

[Shaddows]

It's funny to see that my PR go up from PR3 to PR4

Hi unikat, welcome to the forums. Apologies that your first response is going to be critical, but it's an important point you are mistaking.

PR is NOT a shorthand scorecard for your site. Let me restate that; PR does not strongly correlate with ranking, particularly under PR7.

Penguine has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with PR. Its like saying "It's funny how I got a payrise today, but I have a stomache ache" - not causally related at all.

In fact, given webspam actively engages in linkspam, there is probably a correlation between PR increases and penguine demotions.