After The Panda-monium Came the Penguin – Google Updates

Sometimes life sucks, huh? Just when you thought you had refined your SEO skills down to an art Google pulled a fast one on you. The Panda update was bad enough and now you have to contend with the “minor” update called Penguin. This update has caused its fair share of controversy with many webmasters claiming that they were wrongly penalized. Google on the other hand insists that Penguin is only meant to penalize poor quality sites. While this may be true, the verdict is still out there as numerous good quality sites have sank into oblivion while some obviously “spammy” sites are yet to be affected.

So What Exactly Is The Google Penguin Update?

This is the latest Google update intended to prevent black hat SEO and spammy sites from worming their way into Google’s top results. With an estimated 3% of websites affected, you can tell there are quite a number of unhappy webmasters ready to commiserate with you if your site has also slipped. Should you be suffering, too, you should shelve any ideas of paying Larry a visit over at Mountain View with that rusty old shovel. Why? Simply because there is a way out that doesn’t involve spending long lonely nights in a jail cell.

Is There Life After Penguin … And A Way Back Into Google’s Good Graces?

It’s simple really (notice I didn’t say easy); all you need to do is follow the laid out rules. So what are the rules? Well, Google didn’t see it fit to divulge any in-depth details about their algorithm for obvious reasons but you can get a snap shot of what is expected here and how to clean up after the Penguins. It does boil down to quality over quantity and you’ve heard it all before. But if the Penguin pooped on you, you weren’t listening.

If you’re ready to start listening now, read:

• Got Penguin Poop On Your Head? How To Deal With Google’s Latest Update — includes a to do list, information on link quality and additional resources.
• The Google Penguin Update: Over-Optimization, Webspam, & High Quality Empty Content Pages exposes some of the holes in the update.
• Google Penguin Update: SEO And Marketing Services Feel The Effeccts – Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz shares some thoughts with Chris Chrum of WebProNews.