If you haven’t yet heard of Google Penguin you’re not alone, but if you’ve got a Web site or a blog, Penguin may affect your search engine ranking. Google Penguin is an updated algorithm that was released in April to improve search results through Google. As a result of this new algorithm, many Web sites that were once ranked quite high through Google’s search engine are falling in the rankings. This is because Google’s new algorithm is cracking down on Web sites that aren’t abiding by Google’s rules for search engine optimization.
Search engine optimization, typically abbreviated SEO, is a technique Web developers use to make their pages appear higher up in searches. Several popular ways of getting higher ranking pages include heavily lacing a Web site with specific keywords and incorporating a lot of links on your site. While some keywords and high quality links are helpful, using too many can be detrimental to your ranking’s health. Another common SEO booster that Google Penguin is cracking down on is doorway pages. These pages are created specifically to boost search engine rankings and contain specific keywords or phrases along with little or no original, quality content.
Companies that outsourced their Web design may not be aware of what SEO techniques their developers incorporated. One good way to judge the quality of your SEO is by checking out your current Google ranking. If you were ranking quite high and all of a sudden you’re ranking has plummeted, you may need to clean up your SEO to abide by Google’s rules. This will allow your Web site to start climbing in the rankings once again.
If you decide your SEO needs an overhaul thanks to Google Penguin, start with one aspect of your SEO and see what it does to your ranking. Making too many changes at once will make it difficult to determine which changes increased your ranking or may even result in an even lower ranking. Eliminate any doorway sites you may have and wait a few days to see if that increases your ranking. Once that’s done, take a look at your links. You or your Web developer may have deemed them high quality links at one point, but the links may have become outdated over time. Remove any links that don’t work or don’t direct users to quality sites related to your site. After you’ve determined how fixing your links affects your ranking, tackle the keywords.
Although Google Penguin has the ability to directly affect your business by causing your competitors to rank higher than you in Web searches, the only thing you can do is update your Web site so that it complies with Google’s rules. This will allow the Penguin algorithm to rank your Web site higher and, hopefully, increase your customer base. If you’re unfamiliar with Google’s SEO rules, take a look at them before you start correcting your SEO or you could end up doing more harm than good.
