What Will Penguin 4.0 Mean for SEOs and Website Owners?

Whether SEOs and website owners will benefit from the upcoming Penguin 4.0 update really depends on the type of link building techniques they’ve used! In other words, those who do utilize black-hat SEO techniques may not be too pleased with this update, while those who “follow all of the rules” – let’s call them White-Hatters – will likely be pleased with what this brand-new update is going to offer…

To help you get a handle on Penguin 4.0 as it relates to SEO and the ownership/operation of websites, we’ve created a comprehensive guideline.

What to expect from Penguin 4.0 Update

According to Webmaster extraordinaire, Gary Illyes (Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google), the newest Penguin update will launch around late 2015. This new update is loaded with features which are designed to combat spam link methods and to assess the quality of links to websites.

As you surely recall, the original Penguin update was released during spring in 2012 and it caused big changes for website owners and SEO experts. It shifted the digital landscape by punishing black-hat tactics. Here is a helpful link showing the timelines for Google’s algorithm change history from MOZ, along with descriptions.

The newest iteration of this update promises to be yet another game-changer…

According to industry rumblings, this version is a real-time update to the existing algorithm. Therefore, the formula will be on at all times and will update constantly as a result.

This will trigger big changes, as a lot of spam techniques are still being used and this real-time feature will help to detect and penalize them. At present, Google denies that black-hat SEO techniques achieve favorable results via their search engine. However, there is evidence that suggests otherwise.
While some black-hatters may still be succeeding in certain ways, it’s safe to say that Penguin helps deter them and the newest version may demotivate them in a more powerful and immediate way.

For example, Penguin will detect spam link profiles with greater ease and speed, which means that websites which don’t legitimately “deserve” higher rankings in Google probably won’t get them with spam link profiles.

This is a good thing in terms of boosting the search engine rankings of truly deserving websites, utilizing Google’s best practices techniques.

Is this the final Penguin 4.0 Update?

It’s not a sure thing, but it’s probable that this update will be the last one that gets major press and a big launch on the world stage. This is due to the real-time nature of this update. New changes will be simpler to integrate in the future and will likely happen faster. This means that you may not see as many press releases and/or media fanfare about new changes to the algorithm.

It’s always possible that Google will prepare a launch in the future. However, the real-time adjustment leads experts to believe that updates will be different in the future and that they will be handled differently by Google’s media team. So, it’s best to prepare now and then adjust when things change…you may not get much notice when they do!

What to do?

Audit your link profile and evaluate every backlink that you’ve found. Then, get productive by starting a process of removing or disavowing links. At this stage, you should contact webmasters in order to request the removal of toxic links. You’ll always benefit from getting rid of links before a penalty, so don’t wait to get the process started.

Most entrepreneurs utilize Whois in order to reach out to others for the purposes of requesting link removal. This platform will give you the power to send out messages to many webmasters. When you send messages, your recipients will have the option of no-following or remove backlinks.

Once you’ve completed this step, you may wish to finalize the process by using tools such as AHREFS or Majestic, which will make it possible for you to see which links have been taken away.
Whatever hasn’t been removed should be disavowed.

Create a plan of action today

Now that we’ve explored the ramifications of this new update, we encourage you to use our information and our helpful tips in order to create a streamlined and effective plan of action. As long as you give proper weight to the pros and cons of the new update and stick to white-hat SEO techniques, you should sail through the changes, as long as you also audit backlinks and get rid of the bad ones.

It’s well worth pleasing Google. After all, strong search engine rankings are really the lifeblood of e-commerce, whether you’re selling goods and/or services or trying to attract advertising to an informative website.

Without strong search engine rankings, your website may never reach its potential. It’s safe to say Penguin 4.0-related penalties won’t help you to achieve your business goals. By preparing in advance, before the new update becomes active, you’ll protect yourself and your business from negative outcomes which are related to the latest version of Penguin.

As the new version is rolled out, more coping tips and information will become available. Right now, it’s all about listening to the experts and discovering what they anticipate from this update. We reviewed plenty of expert opinions and compiled their predictions here.

Hopefully, our comprehensive guideline will help you to make the most of this update. If you aren’t in the habit of wearing of using “spammy tactics”, you may actually find that this new update is to your advantage. Your white-hat attention to SEO rules and regulations may be rewarded. However, if you do utilize black-hat techniques, most of the time or on occasion, it may be time to take it off and become one of the good guys (or girls!).

Google wants black hat techniques out of the equation and every update includes features which punish shady SEO tactics.

References & Related:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/miketempleman/2015/10/30/google-penguin-4-0-and-what-you-need-to-know/
http://searchengineland.com/googles-next-penguin-update-should-be-within-the-next-two-months-234672
http://www.fatbit.com/fab/brace-google-penguin-4-0-coming-end-2015/