How Google Penguin 4.0 Update can Affect your Site

Google Penguin is an algorithm that was introduced by Google in 2012, and its purpose was to prevent spamming of links and to penalize it. The algorithm was designed to penalize the websites whose SERPs were dependent on exploiting the black hat SEO tactics like duplicate content, link schemes, cloaking, keyword stuffing, etc. There have been some updates to the algorithm over the years, and the purpose of all updates was to improve a quality of content and to prevent the unethical building of links.

Penguin 4.0 is the latest upgrade and there two significant changes in it. The first change is that it can now run real-time while the second change is that there are no adverse effects site-wide that can affect the ranking factor. You can take help from the guide to Google Penguin 4.0 to fully understand the changes.

How is Penguin 4.0 affect the website?

Quick penalty dealings:

Before the update penguin was running intermittently which means that it ran once every few months. The problem with it was the penalty could only incur or get lifted when the algorithm was refreshed. It could take some time as it was not updating every other day. If the websites got rid of offending links the day they get a penalty, they still had to wait days or sometimes months to get it lifted. Now the new version is refreshing in real time which means that you do not have to wait days to get the penalty lifted.

Penalizing individual updates:

The old version of Penguin did not use to penalize individual pages. Whenever it detected a spam signal, the whole website was buried. The domain of the page would drop through the SERPs even if all the other pages of the website were free of any spam links. In the older version just because of a single spam the whole site will have to suffer the penalty, and the penalty would stay until the Penguin refreshed which could take months. The new update has changed that and now Google only penalizes individual pages and not the entire website. If any spam is detected, it will only bury that page in SERPs while the other pages will continue unaffected. It will still be able to have a good ranking.

Improving the ranking:

The new update was slightly different than the previous ones because the effects of Penguin algorithm were felt immediately as the sites with black hat SEO were penalized and their ranking dropped, and those whose penalties were lifted and their ranking was improved. But the effects of latest updates were felt at least three to five days after it was introduced. It had taken some time before the SEOs started feeling the flux of SERPs. Some websites enjoyed boost in ranking, and there were few sites that had suffered penalties.

Disavow tool still functioning:

The new update has not affected the Google’s team for manual actions, and it is still going to be around even though the Penguin has gone real time. You can still ask for their assistance if you observe any negative link building towards your site.