What is the Google Penguin update?

The Google Penguin update is an update to Google’s ranking algorithm that fights web spam. It ran for the first time in 2012 and, despite the name, has nothing to do with penguins.

The update targets web spam, meaning any form of content that exists to reach higher rankings without offering value to the visitor of a website, and it is meant to reduce manipulation of the search results. By now it is a fixed part of the Google algorithm. Between 2012 and 2014, Penguin versions 1.0 to 3.0 were still rolled out manually; since version 4.0 from 2016, the updates run continuously as part of Google’s core algorithm.

What did the Penguin update change for SEO?

The update became a problem above all for websites that do not follow Google’s webmaster guidelines. Once Google’s filters recognize web spam on a page, that means a considerable loss of rankings.

Link building, meaning the generation of backlinks through guest posts, link exchanges or even buying links, used to be a large part of the work of an SEO. Since the update it has become a good deal harder to earn high quality backlinks without ending up in web spam territory. That is also one of the reasons why only few agencies offer backlink building.

What to do if the Penguin update hits your site

You should analyze and clean up your backlink profile right away, which means getting bad backlinks removed. If removal does not work, Google offers a tool (the Disavow Tool) that devalues links, so they no longer count towards your link profile.

Sorting out which links are actually the problem is what the backlink chapter of an SEO audit is for. More terms from this field are in the SEO glossary.