HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE NEXT PENGUIN UPDATE VERSION

Аs most SEO specialists know, Google has announced that by the end of the year, we can expect a new update in the algorithm known as Penguin. Its goal is an even more effective fight against the spam tactics and unnatural linkbuilding. This means that all those who have been “hit” by the last Penguin last December now have the chance to recover, as this update has not renewed automatically.

It is expected that the upcoming Penguin will be much like the last update Panda – it will work in real time. This means that, when Google registers smap links, the sites will be affected immediately. And when these links are removed, the sites could recover just as fast.

No matter how much we wish spam links weren’t such a problem and that SEO agencies used cleaner link strategies, that’s not exactly the way things are. After every algorithm update, there are winners, and there are losers, and the situation won’t be much different after the new Penguin update.

Usually, checking the link profiles is not a particularly high priority, especially if everything else is normal. Despite this, it is never a bad idea to keep a close watch on it, especially now, when we have to prepare for the new Penguin. Spam can happen even if you don’t intend it, and unfortunately, the excuse you didn’t know about it won’t spare you the penalty.

Diversifying the anchor texts

In the past, it was a common practice to use mainly anchor texts with the main keywords, which means that the text totally matched the key phrase. It is a good idea to diversify the anchor texts. They can be the brand name, the key words, non-descriptive expressions, long-tail keywords, and pure domain links.

In general, it is a good idea have a variety of anchor texts because, for Google, it’s unnatural for the all the links to your site to have almost one and the same anchor texts.

Dramatic rises/falls and too many external links leading to your site.

In case someone not related to your site tries to do a negative optimization of your site and cause it to lose positions, they can order spam links to your site. Therefore, if you notice a dramatic rise in the chart for the links and domains leading to your site, somebody is probably trying to negatively influence your positions.

Removal of unwanted links

When it comes to the removal of unwanted links, you could find a lot of controversial information on the topic.

It’s only logical to inform Google that you have nothing to do with the smap links leading to your site. Their removal, however, is not done manually, and if you don’t want them to count, you have to tell this to Google. The risk you will take in this case is that you will direct Google’s attention to spam links it may not have yet found.

Optimizing internal links

The internal links get more attention for a reason, when it comes to the Penguin update. This doesn’t mean that the internal links are to be ignored. Even if they don’t have so much significance for the site’s ranking, they strongly affect how the search engines crawl the site.

These are links, over which you, as owners, have control. You can tell the search engines which pages are more important and which are related to each other by topic.

Internal links can also be subject to pre-optimization, just as the external ones.

Here are some tips on how to keep your internal link profile clean.

• Don’t use only matching key expressions, but diversify the anchor text with non-descriptive expressions.
• Link to related pages. Always ask yourself the question whether someone who is interested in page A would not be also interested in page B.
• Try to observe hierarchy as much as possible.

Tools

It is possible to do it all manually, but there are still some tools which make the process easier. Here is some more information about the two most often used ones.

Ahrefs – for a quick check of the links and anchor texts, Ahrefs can be used. This instrument allows the URL to be tested and is a fast way to check if there is a fast, dramatic, or dangerous rise in the link profile.

Screaming Frog – A good crawling bot is necessary to give you the most accurate and raw data for your site, and this is exactly what Screaming Frog is.

Our experienced optimizers at 411 Marketing know the right SEO tactics. With the help of our online marketing agency, your site will be protected against the new Penguin update and won’t be affected by the penalties.