learning from google penguin 3.0 - #sfgettingsmarter
DESCRIPTION
In this weeks #SFGettingSmarter session SEO Manager Alan talks about the Google Penguin 3.0 rollout and shares what we have learnt over the past month as Google further tightens its algorithm to target low quality backlinking.TRANSCRIPT
Learning From Google Penguin 3.0
Google Penguin
1. What is Google Penguin?
2. Has My Site Been Hit by Google Penguin?
3. Google Penguin Recovery
4. Link Removals
5. Google Disavow Tool
6. Disavow File Tips and Tricks
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7. Post Penguin 3.0 Link Building
What is Google Penguin?The Google Penguin algorithm updates are designed to decrease the rankings of websites that
have used black-hat (low quality) link building in order to manipulate Google ranking results
Penguin UpdatesPenguin 1 on April 24, 2012 (impacting around
3.1% of queries)
Penguin 2 on May 26, 2012 (impacting less
than 0.1%)
Penguin 3 on October 5, 2012 (impacting
around 0.3% of queries)
Penguin 4 (AKA Penguin 2.0) on May 22, 2013
(impacting 2.3% of queries)
Penguin 5 (AKA Penguin 2.1) on October 4,
2013 (impacting around 1% of queries)
Penguin 6 (AKA Penguin 3.0) on October 17,
2014 (impacting less than 1% English queries)
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Has My Site Been Hit by Google Penguin?There are many tools now available to determine how Google Algorithm updates have affected
your site
Penguin Analysis ToolsBaracuda Digital’s Panguin Tool
(http://www.barracuda-digital.co.uk/panguin-
tool/)
Penguin Penalty Analysis Tool
(http://reconsideration.org/)
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Google Penguin RecoveryWhile some improvements can be made from cleaning up low quality backlinking activity, sites
that have been significantly hit by Penguin updates may not see a full recovery until the next
update arrives
What to Do Now?Now is the time to clean up your backlink profile
Remove links from private blog networks,
article marketing sites, and low quality directory
submissions
Submit all low quality links to the Google
Disavow Tool
Stop building sh*t links
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Link RemovalsRemoving bad links is the best way to clean things up. This will help your rankings in Google
as well as other search engines
What’s the Process?Contact the website
Ask to remove the link. Provide details about
the anchor text and the page containing the
link. Try to make it as easy as possible for the
site owner to remove the link
Write a personal email asking to remove the
link. These sites may be getting smashed with
link removal requests and they don’t respond
well to templated emails requests
Keep a spreadsheet with details about the link,
contact details, removal request dates and the
results
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Google Disavow ToolSometimes having a link removed is not easy or even possible. Many low quality directories are even
trying to make money out of these Google updates by creating listings then asking for money to remove
them. The Google Disavow Tool enables webmasters to ask Google to put a virtual nofollow tag onto
each of these links
Which Links Do I
Disavow?Disavowing links from low quality
domains should be done at the domain
level. This ensures new listings or urls
changed within these websites are also
ignored
I also disavow the following links to be
sure all bases are covered; 404 links, low
quality nofollowed links, websites no
longer indexed in Google (503 no
gateway) using the internet wayback
machine to determine relevance and
quality (http://archive.org/web/)
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Disavow File Tips and TricksUsing the Disavow Tool in the wrong way can hurt your site. If you incorrectly disavow good links you
can do even more damage to search rankings
Good Stuff to Know
Comments used in disavow files are for your own
reference. The Google webspam team does not read
them
Sub-domains can also be disavowed by using the
domain: operator (domain:spam.wordpress.com)
A link can be re-instated by removing it from the
disavow file and re-uploading the file
Disavowed links still show up in Webmaster Tools so
using a link tool like Link Research Tools Link Detox
can help speed things up
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Post Penguin 3.0 Link BuildingGetting quality links to your site is time consuming and costly but worth it in the long run
Quality Link Building
Build quality content that people will
link to
Create infographics and other
sharable content such as videos
List your site on quality industry
directories
Links should be built on relevant
websites
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WATCH OUT FOR PENGUINS!