Last Friday, Google’s Matt Cutts announced an update to Google’s Penguin update on Twitter:
“Minor weather report: We pushed 1st Penguin algo data refresh an hour ago.
Affects <0.1% of English searches.”
Google’s Penguin update targeted websites that used spamming methods to get high rankings on Google.
Has your site been penalized?
Google’s Penguin update led to many outcries among webmasters because it seemed possible to hurt a competitor by pointing spam links to a competitor site.
It seems more likely that Google simply devalued links from spammy sites. Websites that heavily relied on bulk links from low quality sites simply don’t receive as much link power as before. That’s the reason why their rankings dropped.
Further information about this topic can be found here:
- Link building and a natural backlink profile: can these two go together?
- How to react to Google’s latest algorithm updates
Spamming won’t get your website on Google’s first result page. If you want to get lasting results, you have to use SEO methods that are good for your website visitors, your website and Google.