We’ve been hearing about it for weeks. It’s sparked debate in many SEO Inc. meetings and now it is finally here. Google has launched an update targeting webspam in search results. It has been interesting to read the buzz online about this update. First, we’ll tell you what the update entails according to Google. Next, we will get into some winners and losers. Then we will end this post with a little SEO insight and some reactions.
In the post Google mentions, “Earlier this year we launched a page layout algorithm that reduces rankings for sites that don’t make much content available “above the fold.”
I thought this was pretty interesting. I think a lot of people missed this update. If you did, get that content higher up on the page.
Google goes on to say the following. “In the next few days, we’re launching an important algorithm change targeted at webspam. The change will decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating Google’s existing quality guidelines. We’ve always targeted webspam in our rankings, and this algorithm represents another improvement in our efforts to reduce webspam and promote high quality content. While we can’t divulge specific signals because we don’t want to give people a way to game our search results and worsen the experience for users, our advice for webmasters is to focus on creating high quality sites that create a good user experience and employ white hat SEO methods instead of engaging in aggressive webspam tactics.”
Here we see that Google wants you to create high quality websites. So let’s find out more concerning what they view as a high quality site. Google starts off with an example of a website that is keyword stuffing.
“Here’s an example of a webspam tactic like keyword stuffing taken from a site that will be affected by this change:”
This one is pretty hard to argue with. I mean, no one wants to Google something and then come to a page with keywords stuffed into it like this. So I have to say, they got it right here.
Google then goes on to show another example. “Of course, most sites affected by this change aren’t so blatant. Here’s an example of a site with unusual linking patterns that is also affected by this change. Notice that if you try to read the text aloud you’ll discover that the outgoing links are completely unrelated to the actual content, and in fact the page text has been “spun” beyond recognition.”
Again, bravo to Google for making this not OK in the search world, but wait, weren’t these things already not OK? The answer is yes! Almost all of the items targeted in this update have been frowned upon and spoken out against for sometime. However, Google says they are now making better updates to the algorithm to catch this type of spam.
Google says that sites affected by this change might not be easily recognizable as spamming without deep analysis or expertise, but the common thread is that these sites are doing much more than white hat SEO; they are being spammy.
This is also multilingual update; this algorithm affects about 3.1% of queries in English to a degree that a regular user might notice. The change affects roughly 3% of queries in languages such as German, Chinese, and Arabic, but the impact is higher in more heavily-spammed languages. For example, 5% of Polish queries change to a degree that a regular user might notice.
So now we have a decent idea of what Google says the update entails. Let’s take a look at around the web.
Winners and Loser from Google Webspam (Penguin) Update
There have already been some big gains and massive losses in this algorithm change. In this post by Danny Sullivan, we see who won and lost.
Big Winners Include
SEO Strategies for Google Webspam Update
This Google Penguin Webspam Update is still very new. So it is hard to make any large SEO policy changes without fully evaluating the change. That being said, we do know a few things.
Briefly:
1. Get content high on the page
2. Do not keyword stuff
3. Do not spin content
4. Do not internal link non-relevant content
Nothing really new here… We don’t do this anyway.
Comments from Around the Web
The outcry has been tremendous to this update. Here are some of the things people are saying.
What is the Update Targeting?
In this portion I would like to list a few choice quotes from Google and then we can talk about them. These quotes are pulled from Google’s Post on Another step to reward high-quality sites.In the post Google mentions, “Earlier this year we launched a page layout algorithm that reduces rankings for sites that don’t make much content available “above the fold.”
I thought this was pretty interesting. I think a lot of people missed this update. If you did, get that content higher up on the page.
Google goes on to say the following. “In the next few days, we’re launching an important algorithm change targeted at webspam. The change will decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating Google’s existing quality guidelines. We’ve always targeted webspam in our rankings, and this algorithm represents another improvement in our efforts to reduce webspam and promote high quality content. While we can’t divulge specific signals because we don’t want to give people a way to game our search results and worsen the experience for users, our advice for webmasters is to focus on creating high quality sites that create a good user experience and employ white hat SEO methods instead of engaging in aggressive webspam tactics.”
Here we see that Google wants you to create high quality websites. So let’s find out more concerning what they view as a high quality site. Google starts off with an example of a website that is keyword stuffing.
“Here’s an example of a webspam tactic like keyword stuffing taken from a site that will be affected by this change:”
Google then goes on to show another example. “Of course, most sites affected by this change aren’t so blatant. Here’s an example of a site with unusual linking patterns that is also affected by this change. Notice that if you try to read the text aloud you’ll discover that the outgoing links are completely unrelated to the actual content, and in fact the page text has been “spun” beyond recognition.”
Google says that sites affected by this change might not be easily recognizable as spamming without deep analysis or expertise, but the common thread is that these sites are doing much more than white hat SEO; they are being spammy.
This is also multilingual update; this algorithm affects about 3.1% of queries in English to a degree that a regular user might notice. The change affects roughly 3% of queries in languages such as German, Chinese, and Arabic, but the impact is higher in more heavily-spammed languages. For example, 5% of Polish queries change to a degree that a regular user might notice.
So now we have a decent idea of what Google says the update entails. Let’s take a look at around the web.
Winners and Loser from Google Webspam (Penguin) Update
There have already been some big gains and massive losses in this algorithm change. In this post by Danny Sullivan, we see who won and lost.
Big Winners Include
- Spotify.com – Traffic up 30%
- Yellowbook.com – Traffic up 30%
- Observer.com – Traffic up 30%
- MensHealth.com – Traffic up 30%
- Similarsites.com – Traffic down -73%
- Doc-txt.com – Traffic down -72%
- Cubestat – Traffic down 69%
- 5ty.org – Traffic down -65%
SEO Strategies for Google Webspam Update
This Google Penguin Webspam Update is still very new. So it is hard to make any large SEO policy changes without fully evaluating the change. That being said, we do know a few things.
Briefly:
1. Get content high on the page
2. Do not keyword stuff
3. Do not spin content
4. Do not internal link non-relevant content
Nothing really new here… We don’t do this anyway.
Comments from Around the Web
The outcry has been tremendous to this update. Here are some of the things people are saying.
- There is no way it only affected 3% of searches
- People are angry at Google who have lost rankings (duh)
- People feel that this is an effort to kill SEO and drive everyone to PPC and Google +
- People feel that this is an update done to strategically increase Googles income
