Google Penguin 2.0 Six Weeks On...

Google what? Penguin 2.0, that's what! Penguin 2.0 is a major algorithm update that was rolled out (or at least announced) by Google on 25th May.

Over recent years Google has tended to give major updates to its ranking algorithm a codename. This can be useful sometimes, as it gives us SEOs something tangible we can point at when explaining to clients why their rankings have just plummeted... Um, I'm only joking a little bit about that. Algorithm updates can have an impact in days, but it can take weeks to re-optimise and recover any lost ground, and in that time we can feel somwhat unfairly persecuted.

But sometimes we can also give ourselves a bit of a pat on the back, and Penguin 2.0 is one of those rare times. In fact we feel quite justified in giving ourselves a double pat on the back, as not only did the first Penguin update (now Penguin 1.0) have little negative effect on our client sites, Penguin 2.0 has by and large seen improvements to positions on nearly all our sites.

You might say "but you didn't do anything to make those improvements, it was simply an algorithm update", to which my reply is, "au contraire, it's because we have consistently focused on ethical and best practices in SEO that our sites have not only not been negatively affected, but in many cases have seen improvements".

Time to be smug for a few minutes. Only a few, mind, as we know that the next update could be a touch of what Google giveth, Google can take away...

But it's good to see that two of the most recent major updates have reinforced the need for the real SEO, with good content and proper structure that we provide, and that the quick fixes of link buying and content marketing are taking another hit.