Google Algorithm Update Penguin 4.0

Each year, Google changes its search algorithm around 500–600 times. While most of these changes are minor, Google occasionally rolls out a “major” algorithmic updates (such as Google Panda and Google Penguin) that affects search results in significant ways. Google launched the Penguin Update in April 2012 to better catch sites deemed to be spamming its search results, in particular those doing so by buying links or obtaining them through link networks designed primarily to boost Google rankings.

Below is the official announcement by Google’s Algorithm Update Penguin 4.0:

“In the next few days, we’re launching an important algorithm change targeted at web spam. The change will decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating Google’s existing quality guidelines. We’ve always targeted web spam in our rankings, and this algorithm represents another improvement in our efforts to reduce webspam and promote high quality content. While we can’t divulge specific signals because we don’t want to give people a way to game our search results and worsen the experience for users, our advice for webmasters is to focus on creating high quality sites that create a good user experience and employ white hat SEO methods instead of engaging in aggressive webspam tactics.”

Updates in 2017

“Fred” (not conformed) — 8th March, 2017

“Fred” Google rolled out what appeared to be a major update, with reports of widespread impacts across the SEO community. Gary Illyes jokingly referred to is as “Fred”, and the name stuck, but he later made it clear that this was not an official confirmation.

Major Unnamed Update — 6th February, 2017

SEO Algorithm changes beginning on February 1st continued for a full week, peaking around February 6th (some reported the 7th). Webmaster chatter and industry case studies suggest these were separate events.

Major Unnamed Update — 1st February, 2017

Around February 1st to 6th there was a period of heavy algorithm flux starting and peaking around. It is unclear whether this was multiple algorithm updates or a single update with an extended roll-out, but anecdotal evidence suggests at least two updates.

Intrusive Interstitial Penalty — 10th January, 2017

In January Google started rolling out a penalty to punish aggressive interstitial’s and pop-ups that might damage the mobile user experience. Google also provided a rare warning of this update five months in advance.

Updates in 2016

Penguin 4.0 Announcement — September 23, 2016

After almost two years of waiting, Google finally announced a major Penguin update. They suggested the new Penguin is now real-time and baked into the “core” algorithm. Initial impact assessments were small, but it was later revealed that the Penguin 4.0 rollout was unusually long and multi-phase

Penguin 4.0, Phase 1 — September 27, 2016

The first phase of Penguin 4.0, which probably launched around September 22-23, was the rollout of the new, “gentler” Penguin algorithm, which devalues bad links instead of penalizing sites. The exact timeline is unconfirmed, but we believe this rollout took at least a few days to fully update, and may have corresponded to an algorithm temperature spike (113°) on September 27th.

Penguin 4.0, Phase 2 — October 6, 2016

The second phase of Penguin 4.0 was the reversal of all previous Penguin penalties. This seemed to happen after the new code rolled out, and may have taken as long as two weeks. Post-Penguin activity had one final peak on October 6th (116°), but it is unclear whether this was Penguin or a new update. Algorithm temperatures finally started to drop after October 6th.

Major Unnamed Update — 10th November, 2016

Industry chatter was high during both periods, with some suggesting that the second spike was a reversal of the first update. Google has not confirmed either event. Many people reported bad dates in SERPs during the same time period, but it’s unclear whether this was causal or just a coincidence.

Major Unnamed Update — 14th December, 2016

Many Google trackers showed massive flux around December 14-15. Webmaster chatter was heavy as well, but Google did not confirm an update.

Reasons why Google’s Penguin 4.0 update is great:

1. Penguin 4.0 is Now Part of Google’s Core Algorithm

After Penguin 4.0 update you can see that when you make changes on your site, you will see changes much faster than before. No longer will you have to wait for another rollout of Penguin to see your site recovery. In their announcement, Google actually stated that they are “not going to comment on future refreshes.”

2. Dealing with Spam Links

The good news for SEOs and Webmasters is that in the new method which Penguin 4.0 deals with spam links. This is a major improvement that many SEOs wanted because in the past if Penguin negatively affected your site, your entire site would drop in search rankings. Instead of demoting entire sites that have spam links directed towards them, Penguin will devalue the links. This means that SEOs and marketers can spend more time on creating quality content and less time trying to defend their site from spam link attacks. Google did not take away the disavow file, so you can still use it to recover from Penguin issues.

3. Avoids negative SEO

People could previously use negative SEO tactics to put at an unfair disadvantage on their competitors, but since sites are no longer demoted in the updated Penguin, this will not be possible. Because Penguin now refreshes in real-time, it does present the opportunity for SEOs to test various black hat practices and see which ones Google can or cannot detect. However, that will be much harder to do, so people should focus on building up their own sites, rather than attacking their competitors.

4. Penguin 4.0 update is more granular

Google says Penguin 4.0 update is more granular because Penguin 4.0 update devalues spam by changing ranking based on spam signals instead of demoting an entire site. Google can penalize just a specific page, group of keywords, or a subdirectory of a site, so you could find that just one page or a part of your site has been penalized instead of penalizing the entire site.

5. Avoid Black hat SEO tactics <

This Google Penguin 4.0 update is going to separate more precisely the real SEOs from the fake. These SEO agencies that are using black hat SEO tactics are going to die out because they will no longer be able to use black hat SEO strategies to get their clients to rank. Their clients are going to see their sites get hit hard and they will have to find legitimate SEOs or agencies that use best practices. This is going to be good for SEO as a whole and show companies and other marketers that not only is SEO critical to your website organic rankings, it is also important that your SEO be done right.

6. Penguin is real-time

This Google Penguin 4.0 update implies that any page’s rankings may change each time Google updates the information about this page and about pages linking to it. So, both the positive and negative impacts of your actions will become noticeable faster by Google.

7. Penguin 4.0 was released to all countries and languages simultaneously

Google released Penguin 4.0 in all the countries and languages simultaneously so that all websites will experience the same impact independent of their location the rules are the same for everyone.

8. Fast recovery from a Google penalty

If your site is penalized and your webmaster does a good job improving it and removing harmful links, then you’ll see positive results faster, right after Google revisits your website’s pages.

9. Quality content Web sites increase

Google released Penguin 4.0 will refreshes in real-time it can separate more precisely the copied or spam content so SEOs and marketers can spend more time on creating quality content and less time trying to defend their site from spam link attacks.

10. Penguin Update turns into Page-Specific

The Penguin 4.0 update hit individual web pages that contain spam content instead of blacklisting the entire website. This clearly indicates that the webmasters need to concentrate only a particular section of a website that contain spam content and fix it easily.

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