What is Google's Penguin Update?

What Is Google Penguin?

At its core, Google Penguin is an algorithmic update meant to optimize Google’s search engine. Essentially, the updated algorithm now looks at links in terms of quality, rather than only in terms of quantity. The better, more relevant links pointing to your website are, the more authoritative your website becomes. Conversely, the more authoritative your website becomes, the better your links are for other websites. Links can be measured for quality by anchor text, age, domain authority, page authority, and context, among other measurements.

The purpose of this algorithmic update is to stop manipulative link building techniques such as link schemes and keyword stuffing. Referred to as ‘black hat,’ these techniques take advantage of the limitations of search algorithms. They allow pages or websites to rank well in search without necessarily providing sound answers, or without serving the interests of the searchers. 

Penguin, however, does more than just punish websites it deems are employing black hat techniques. Penguin also works to reward websites that foster high-quality content and natural, meaningful backlink profiles. 

What Happened Before Penguin?

Prior to Penguin, Panda was the algorithm responsible for understanding and recognizing quality content, as opposed to links. Panda’s 2011 release was met with various complaints, as its sweeping results targeted entire websites. However, Penguin had its fair share of complaints too. Before Google Penguin operated in real-time, sites affected by its update had to wait until the next update to mitigate any negative impact such as a loss of visibility or traffic.  

What Changed After Penguin?

Since the release of Penguin, an understanding of what good linking building is and what it requires has been cultivated. The bulk of the change comes from Penguin discrediting links that lead to irrelevant sites. While links are still essential ranking factors for search, how they are qualified compared to other ranking factors is more nuanced now. Essentially, any link deemed to employ webspam is prevented from actually improving any ranking. This change has made a clear the distinction between white hat and black hat search engine optimization.