March of the search and SPAM fighting Penguin
Google launched version 3 of it's spam fighting algorithm Penguin, which is supposed to affect .3% of English language searches. This “data refresh” of Penguin will also affect searches and the ranking of websites across multiple languages.
Search Engine Land has labeled this version of the update Penguin 3, avoiding the 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 naming scheme. Below is the history of the Penguin roll-out including the percentage of search affected by the algorithm.
- Penguin 1: April 24, 2012 (3.1%)
- Penguin 2: May 26, 2012 (less than 0.1%)
- Penguin 3: Oct. 5, 2012 (0.3%)
Google released the notification about the Penguin update via Twitter and through it's blog. The announced stated that "0.3 percent of English-language queries will be 'noticeably affected.'" The affect will most certainly be noticed with websites that contain too many low-quality inbound links. Google is targeting websites that use techniques such as keyword stuffing and link schemes to manipulate their rankings in Google. Often times this techniques are sold to website owners via email spam solicitations from companies pushing blackhat techniques.
Ironpaper has long pushed for a complete “white hat” approach to search. The idea of “white hat” includes creating fantastic content and constantly pushing user experience alongside any marketing efforts--as the two initiatives go hand-in-hand.
