The Google Penguin 2.0 Update Effected Business Websites Everywhere

If you are a website developer or website owner and have noticed a dramatic drop in your search engine rankings you may be a victim of Google’s latest update. In an effort to crack down on web spam throughout the internet Matt Cutts (head of Google’s webspam team) has announced the launch of Penguin 2.0 effective May 25th, 2013.

Simply put websites who have been associated with unethical or low brow SEO practices have been penalized in Google’s search engine rankings. This could include various spamming techniques such as automated linking schemes, blog spamming, low quality link exchanges and more.

While most would agree this new update is a good thing for website owners everywhere it’s nonetheless taken its toll on certain businesses who’ve seen their search rankings plummet within a matter of days. Companies who’ve come to rely on search engines a primary source of marketing now find themselves in a hole that may be difficult to climb out of.

At one point getting as many backlinks to your website as possible was considered the key factor in attaining a high search engine ranking. Getting more links as opposed to quality links became top priority, a fact the many more unethical SEO companies used to their advantage.

Now the tables have turned and the same SEO companies responsible for creating thousands of cheap links to their client’s web pages now must find a way to have them removed. Web companies who were once constantly approached for link exchanges are now being contacted by the exact same people for removal requests.

Linking methods done only for the sole purpose of boosting your SEO rankings are becoming a thing of the past. More natural linking methods are now being rewarded in Google such as article writing, video tutorials, forum participation and being active in social media.

Ironically some companies who’ve engaged in a very limited amount of more ethical SEO techniques or even no SEO techniques whatsoever have enjoyed a big boost in their rankings. Proof that a couple good links or no links whatsoever are still better than many links from what’s referred to in the industry as”bad neighborhoods”.

If your website is currently suffering from a sudden dip in your search engine results you may want to investigate the effects of the Penguin 2.0 update further. The road to recovery for some websites will be much more difficult than others.

For more information on best practices for SEO in 2013 here are some helpful related articles…

On-Page SEO Best Practices in 2013: 7 Rules of the Game

Mastering SEO for PR: Top 3 Best Practices

Best SEO Practices 2013 Conference

By Jeff Moyer