Recover from Google Update Penguin 2.1

Well what a month we’ve had with Google! If since 4th October you have had less online enquiries and you’ve seen a massive drop in traffic; your web site has been hit by the latest Google algorithm update, known as Penguin 2.1.

Just to keep us all on our toes, Google released an update shortly before called Hummingbird which has also played a part in the search results changing recently.

 

Hummingbird Google Update

As part of the new updates from Google, Hummingbird update was applied. This was more aimed at promoting sites with fresh content; so our clients sites that are build on a CMS have not been affected due to those clients regularly updating their website content.

 

What caused it all?

Penguin 2.1 was focused like the other Penguin releases on quality inbound links to websites. So oddly this update has affected older sites more because they will have had links from either bad SEO methods or simply sites that have turned negative (or less positive) in Googles eyes. This, linked with another of Googles updates called Hummingbird which is looking for fresh content, has had a knock on effect to a wide range of sites. We’ve seen sites that have been going for 6+ years with little update to the content disappear over night; whilst sites that have been going for less than 12 months suddenly promoted!

 

How to recover from Google Update Penguin 2.1?

Great question! It’s not a simple case of phoning Google and saying “er, excuse me but where’s my site gone”. Wouldn’t that make the world of SEO a lot easier?! Unfortunately there is no instant fix, however we are strongly encouraging clients to update the content of their websites. This seems to be the most common factor seen across sites that have been effected. If you are doing your own link building campaigns, make sure the anchor text is varied enough and there are some no-follow links (ideally at least 20% of all links).

 

Why didn’t we release an update on the 5th October?

We were waiting for the dust to settle and understand the pattern. We had some clients come and ask for us to work on more key phrases for their business; whilst others were asking us to fix Google!

 

Need more help with SEO?

We’d love to help you recover from the Google Update penguin 2.1 and any other SEO you are looking to do for your website. Please get in touch on 01489 297070.