Google Penguin Update Webinar

Google Penguin Update & the Futureof Internet Marketing…

JUNE 5, 20122:00 PM EST

Engage on Twitter @webimax

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Google Penguin Update & the Future of Internet Marketing

What is going on in the minds of Google? Over 50 updates per month and more than 500 updates per year. There are more questions now than ever regarding how to best optimize your site and play within the rules set by Google. The future of SEO and Internet marketing has not only changed over the year but, most recently, over the past few weeks. Online marketers are questioning there link profiles, SEO work they have done in the past and what they should do moving forward.

• EFFECT – IDENTIFY ISSUES• CAUSES - TRIGGERS• RECOVERY – TIPS & STEPS• THE FUTURE

Ken WisnefskiFounder & CEO

Chris CounteyDirector of SEO

Mike StrickerDirector of SMO

Todd BaileyVP of Digital Strategy

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Quick Introduction


ENTREPRENEUR

FOUNDER OF

FEATURED ON NATIONAL MEDIA

Member of the Philadelphia Business Journal 40 Under 40

South Jersey Business Journal 40 under 40

Forbes America's Most Promising Companies Winner

Philadelphia Business Journal Best Places to Work

South Jersey Business Journal Fastest Growing Company

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Quick Introduction


Penguin is: A Google algorithm update with a penalty

aspect included Applies to 3.1% of queries If you target high volume key words, you

are subject to Penguin It has reached Penguin 1.1, which is a data

refresh affecting .1% of queries

WebiMax has been featured and written many pieces about the Penguin Update and it’s impact

755,000 or more GWT Messages went out to

webmasters 85,000 or more blogs were de-indexed It is likely that well in excess of 1M websites

have been affected to date

additionally

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Penguin Explained

Penguin is an update that penalizes websites for “bad behavior” but is not a penalty itself.

• Penguin, like Panda, exists outside the scope of the main algorithm

• Penguin will receive a data refresh at undisclosed intervals, much like Panda

• Removing spam links and duplicate content will immediately restore rank

• Penguin is algorithmic as opposed to a manual tweak to your website specifically

Google is constantly trying to improve its search engine for their customer: the person searching. This is the only constant in Google’s history. Everything else that has changed can be linked to this goal.

Google uses artificial intelligence and calculations to make decisions about which pages are right for your query.

WHAT IS PENGUIN?

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• The best indicator is a sharp drop in organic Google traffic on or around April 25, 2012

• A site search for your brand or domain name will also reveal a problem

If your brand or your domain does not appear at the top of page 1 of Google when searching for your domain, your site was probably affected

Penguin Explained

WAS MY SITE AFFECTED?

Penguin Timeline

7Made with Office Timeline 2010

The impact of this update was not subtle. Sites that were affected saw a dramatic drop in organic traffic from Google.

' 12 Apr May ' 12

"Webspam Update", later known as "Penguin" rolled out4/24/12

Matt Cutts hints at an "over-optmization" update at SXSW3/16/12

Time Between Penguin Updates4/24/12 5/25/12

Mar

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Penguin Explained

Some sites that were impacted by Penguin had messages like the one below appear in their Google Webmaster Tools account

OTHER EVIDENCE

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Penguin Explained

If your website dropped in rank drastically, you may not have received a direct hit from Penguin.

Websites that link to you may have instead been severely hit and removed entirely from Google’s index.

This would result in a loss of “link juice” and ultimately, loss of positions in the SERPs.

Dropping just 1 position in the SERP can have a dramatic effect on traffic.

INDIRECT PENGUIN HITS

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Penguin Explained

Triggers and Vulnerabilities

Competitive Queries! Over-Use of the 3.1% particular "money keywords" or "competitive queries" (transactional or converting keyword phrases with buy…, best…, cheap…, instant cash loans, auto insurance, etc.)

CAUSES

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Penguin Explained

Overuse of Exact-Match Anchor Text links Over-reliance on exact-match anchor text, instead of expected human-built links using domain name, brand name, URL, ‘click here’, etc.

CAUSES

(exact-match anchor text in irrelevant (thin, shallow, scraped) content on low quality domains, article farms, content farms, or in in combination as comment spam or usernames, etc.)

[especially as it applies to Keyword-Named Domains and URLsthreshold 60 - 65% VS brand-name or domain-name anchor text] (OSE or Ahrefs)

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Penguin Explained

Too Many Links from Low-Quality Websites especially in association with other factors

CAUSES

• Irrelevant domains, encyclopedic link farm directory, “SEOfreeDirectory”, foreign-language directory• Disproportionate number of bad blogs, dirty directories, articles, link farms• Prevalence of Links from irrelevant content, pages and/or domains • Immoderate Reciprocal Links that result in irrelevant links • Links from Duplicate Content (thin, shallow, scraped)

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Penguin Explained

Links from Associated Websites or a Link Scheme, whether paid or home-grown

CAUSES

(i.e. same IP, similar C names, matched Analytics code) (Ahrefs, Majestic Neighbourhood, WhoRush)

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Penguin Explained

Imbalance of Link Types

CAUSES

(blog comment spam, ‘dumb’ directories, shallow articles, inauthentic social bookmarks etc.) (Link Detective or sort)

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Penguin Explained

Links from irrelevant Foreign Websites

CAUSES

Links from Paid Links/Premium Links/High PR Links Networks (web business owner should know what’s paid; agency or SEO should know)

Examples of De-indexed or penalized Link Networks:

BuildMyRank (BMR) AuthorityLinkNetwork (ALN) Unique Article WizardMyArticleNetworkBlogBlueprintLinkVanaArticle Marketing AutomationArticleRanksSEOLinkMonster RankJumpers… etc.

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Penguin Explained

Too many Site-Wide Links (from every page of a website: sidebars, blogrolls, global footers, etc) (OSE or Ahrefs)

CAUSES

Bulk Linkbuilding

Links from Bad Neighborhoods, Penguin-bit sites, de-indexed Link Networks and blocked Blog Link Wheels, penalized directories, etc. (supplementary, domino-effect) (check blacklists, indexation, rank for domain name or page title)

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Penguin Explained

Lack of Trusted Links - Few relevant incoming links from authoritative domains and websites in the same niche or from the CORE high-authority trusted 100

CAUSES

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Penguin Explained

Identification of worst links Check index status of (bad) linking websites Document contacts of offending websites or sources of “bad” Inbound Links "Link Purge" - Ask/beg/pay to have links removed – record communications Disassociate from Link Schemes whether your own link wheels or paid satellite sites, feeder sites Resign all paid links (except trusted vertical directories Angie’s List, Thomasnet, or Yahoo! Directory)

Fix all these link issues, eliminate any on-site instances of keyword stuffing, spun content, cloaking, and other spammy tactics

Submit the site to the Google Penguin Feedback Form with:

• Citations of efforts

• What guided your decisions - similar to WMT letter or “Another step to reward high-quality sites”

• Lists of deleted links

• Lists of linking sites that defied contact

• Commitment to principles of Google Quality Guidelines

Produce tangible evidence of on-site social engagement by real people with your website, pages and products, as well as your off-site

social media channels themselves. Build better evidence of genuine authority, proximity to trust and useful content among a relevant suite of naturally-associated websites. Do

this both by sensible link-building and real social engagement using authenticated personal and company profiles, both on-site and off.

RECOVERY

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEVxdmdRWFJRTjRoLWZVTHZkaTBQbkE6MQ

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The Future of Internet Marketing

What’s the FutureOf SEO?

• Understand Google's Strategy• Authors Hold the Key• Social Engagement Optimization• Social Signals• Social Visuals• Segmented Traffic Optimization• Relationships• Authority PR Campaigns

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Brand - Google focus on big brands Citations & Trust – Google rewarding these signals Social – Identity signal: +1 content = higher CTR (indirect relation) Personalized Search is a Reality – Affects SEO through social

connections and increased CTR (indirect relation) Authorship – Identity signal: rel=Me/Author (AUTHOR RANK)

Investment VC has steered to Enterprise SEO, Social Signals and API Development

Innovation Leaders SEOmoz Majestic SEO HubSpot

SERP Rankings Still important to understand the health of a site Focus should be placed more on what Analytics is telling you:

• Conversion Optimization• CTR and Time on Site/Page

Google uses human quality raters extensively in testing algorithm changes

GOOGLES STRATEGY

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WHO IS IMPORTANT:• PR• Journalists• Writers• Bloggers

AUTHORS HOLD THE KEY

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SEO

earch

ngine

ptimization

ocial

ngagement

Links

Off-Site Articles Black Hat

On-Site Content

Social Media Engagement indirectly affects SEO in a positive way with personal search, CTR’s as well as earned authority.• Authoritative Identities• Post• Monitor• Engage

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Author Rank

Aberrations or Deviations in Ranking Signals – Unnatural

Google’s new direct answers results in more searches

SOCIAL SIGNALS

Relevancy is King!

50 updates per month 500 updates per year20,000 experiments in 2011

Amit SinghalSenior VP - Google

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SOCIAL VISUALS

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HOW TO ENGAGE?

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• Brand vs. Non-Branded• Organic Traffic Interaction Goals (or Events)

• The anticipated merge between SEO, SMO and Content Marketing with PR is now and is titled Inbound Marketing

• Not just Press Releases• Creating relationships with communities, blogs, news outlets• Guest Blogging with authoritative authors

SEGMENTED TRAFFIC OPTIMIZATION

RELATIONSHIPS

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What Does an Internet Marketing Campaign Look Like?

• On-Site Optimization (Technical – Within Google Guidelines)

• Content – Fresh ON and OFF Site Content (High Quality)

• Guest Blogging – Relationship Focused / Relevancy

• Brand Monitoring – High Priority on Reviewing your Link Profile

• Link Building – Less Focus on Anchor Text (Diversify), More Focus on Trust at the Core of Integrity

• Public Relations – Pitches, Interviews, Citations and more

• Social Engagement – Routine Updates and Communication

• Thought Leadership – Become an Influencer, Authoritative Content, Whitepapers, Webinars

• Earned Shares – Position High Quality Content Socially and Market

• Traffic Replacement – Paid Opportunities, CPM/Ad Networks, Retargeting, Referral Traffic, Display

• Gamification – Customer Rewards, Loyalty, Badges, Discounts, Coupons

• CSEs (Comparison Shopping Engines) – Free or Paid (Google Merchant now Google Shopping)

• RSS & Subscribers – Build Authority for your Site through its Feeds – RSS, Aggregator & Subscriber

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Q&A

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Technology

Google Penguin Update Webinar