This is our second blog post examining Google’s search algorithms: Panda, Penguin, and Pigeon.
We’ve already examined Panda.Penguin inspects the links in and out of a website.
Pigeon focuses on local search.
This blog post will focus on Penguin and what you can do
to improve your ranking in Google’s Penguin algorithm.
Google Penguin Algorithm:
You’ve finally got links leading to and out of your website. These links were acquired in a number of ways but your business is nowhere to be found on Google. So what does this mean? Penguin, Google’s link inspection algorithm, may have gotten you.
Penguin’s algorithm is looking for natural, high-quality links. That means these links should be relevant to your industry, as well as links that lead to trusted websites. For example, if you sell refrigerators, it would be logical to have the manufacturer’s link to you from their reseller locator. This link will not only be relevant to your industry but also the brand likely has a high domain authority and is trusted by Google’s Penguin algorithm.
So now you figure you’ve been hit. What can you do while waiting for Penguin to crawl your site again? Here’s a list of a few steps you can take to clean up your website.
- Utilize relevant links. If your business sells refrigerators, linking to products and brands that your company sells is a perfect way to utilize high-quality links. Maintaining a blog is an excellent way to incorporate high-quality links. If you’ve just received some new products, make a blog post announcing your new products and provide links to them from the brand website.
- Local links. If you’re a local small business attempt to get links from local organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, the local newspaper, philanthropic organizations, and other like-minded businesses. For example, if you’re a plumber, negotiate a link exchange with a local plumbing supply house.
- Develop a Sitemap. A Sitemap is a list of the pages on your website. Having one of these for your site will help search engines learn about your site.
- Build natural links. Although it may take time, building natural, trusted links are one of the best ways to gain favor in Penguin’s eyes. If you produce engaging, high-quality content, people will naturally want to share it with their networks. Another way to build natural links is through maintaining a blog of high quality, relevant content.
- Be active on social media. One of the best ways to connect with others is through social media sites like Facebook. Since your customers are more likely to engage with you through social networks instead of directly on your website, cross-post any new information, announcements, or events your business is sharing to your social media. This will not only share your content with a wider audience but also encourage people to share your content. Your website may be slow to garner attention but it’s better to have slow and steady growth than to purchase spammy links that could get you in trouble with Google. Being hit by Penguin can completely knock your business off Google listings, making your business impossible to find. If you do get hit, remember the steps above and take action to clean up your site before Penguin crawls your site again.