What To Do Post Penguin: It’s All Hypothesis
In this video, we talk about waht to do post Penguin – whether your site got hit or not.
Two posts I enjoyed with detailed, intelligent Penguin analysis and hypothesis are Chris Rempel’s and John Leger’s. Use these as guidelines in your own experimentation and discovery.
This is a follow-up to “Screwed By A Penguin?” which you can watch here, should you so desire.
comment : 26
Spread & Share
26 Comments
Great stuff Michelle as always.
Love that you recommended “personal responsibility.” Thank you for reinforcing the fact that we just have to wait until Google settles down and in the meantime to continue with the basics of what we’ve done for years.. good content, social relationships, obvious links.
I agree with Jay, I really liking your way of dealing with things Michelle! Thanks again for the honest video
Ultimately Google is always going to strive to serve up the best results. If this update doesn’t do that, you can bet the farm that they will change it (or lose that precious market share). If people would stop freaking out every time there’s an update and just focus on being that “best result”, the rest will eventually work out. Fluctuations are just part of the game.
Michelle you are absolutely right with the hang tight remark. My sites are still warping in and out of the SERPs on a regular basis. It looks almost like Google’s alogo has gotten so complex that not even they know how it will effect the searches when they make changes. There is some real crap out there though that has replaced good sites.
Straight to the point. Who knows what was the impact of changing this huge online environment after two weeks of implementation and what is a remedy for any bad influence. We can only see results and try to find new ways to improve our online presence by testing. Thanks for opening eyes video.
so, I plan to open up a new site, how can I get on page 1 of google thes days?
should I do nothing?
Thanks for the mention Michelle – the one plus in all this is that we’re not out of the woods yet. Unless Google is insane, there should be rolling updates to this (as with Panda). Some of the worst SERPs I have ever seen, though. Wow.
@Chris Rempel You got it Chris – always good stuff from your end of the internet – for many, many years. Gosh we’ve all been doing this for what seems like forever!
Word to my motherboard. I’ve gotten about 6 emails today talking about what to do post Penguin. The truth is, as you said, nobody knows yet. It’s nice to hear someone talk about this in a genuine way, not recommending software, etc. I’m also leaving my link building as is and have taken out greyhat and blackhat elements as well. Surprise of surprises, the time I spent with a lot of blackhat stuff being spent on great content is a much better tradeoff.
They’re full of what, Michelle?
I love the way you don’t sit on the fence. You’re one of the few marketing resources I still trust. Thanks for keeping it real. And I couldn’t agree more with you. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. There’s a lot of fools and a lot of fool’s gold out there.
http://www.micrositemasters.com/blog/penguin-analysis-seo-isnt-dead-but-you-need-to-act-smarter-and-5-easy-ways-to-do-so/
Very well said! Thanks Michelle
Very expressive eyes…
This Google Penguin thing seems to have something to do with Google’s desire to make Google+ the end all social network. I don’t have Google+ figured out either, but there’s something there.
You are among one of my highest respected marketers, especially when it comes to SEO.
With that said, I very respectfully disagree with the notion that no one knows the way forward.
Sure we can’t guess the very specifics of what changed in the algorithm, but I think it’s pretty clear what’s going on. Google has invested a bajillion dollars in their algorithm. Too many people started to get too good at manipulating that algo.
So Google said… No, these things you are doing are no longer going to work. We want our algorithm to do the ranking. Not the SEO’s.
It’s always been about “How can we show the most useful, most enjoyable, and most trustworthy pages.”
If they allow aggressive linkbuilding, over optimization, EMD’s, and etc etc. to stay then they are not in control of that anymore.
I believe and would defend, that the way forward is useful, enjoyable, authoritative content. That gets naturally linked too and shared socially. For proof of this I offer Seth Godin’s recent blog post. He took over a top ranking keyword, “How To Make Money Online” almost immediately upon writing it.
What does he have? He has a consistently updated, authoritative blog full of useful, enjoyable content that gets naturally linked too and shared socially.
This is in no way a slam or any disrespect. You know how highly I think of you. Just adding what I see to the conversation.
I totally agree Justin Brooke on so many points!
There are a ton of signals, speculation and educated hypothesis that point towards all the ideas you mentioned above.
We shouldn’t “over optimize,” agreed. But what, specifically, does Google mean by that? Too high a KW density (if so, how high is too high now)? Too much KW matchy-matchy in the title tag, H1 and meta description? Too many exact match anchor text links (and if so, what percentage is “too much”?).
Those are the very specific questions that remain to be answered – and I mean that if someone tells you they have the answers to those kinds of *SPECIFIC* questions, they’re lying!
And yes, the answers to those questions don’t matter a LICK without the kind of useful, enjoyable and authoritative content you’re referring to. Quality content first.
I think we agree on more than we disagree on Justin!
Seth Godin is also a very big brand. Let’s not forget that asking a machine to give us the best answers for our questions is a flawed model to begin with. Google createth – then Google destroyeth.
I honestly think that it’s time for some of the heavy hitters in the Internet marketing community to create a search engine that is affiliate and entrepreneurial friendly. For a pattern to follow, why not look at the framework upon which Squidoo is built? Squidoo is openly “business” friendly. Why can’t a search engine be developed that doesn’t trash legitimate, relevant, business-oriented websites and blogs that have original content, especially if they are several years old? Why can’t a search engine be developed that lists 30 or 40 or more search results on the first page of the search results (unlike the 10 results from the Google gods)? Why can’t a search engine be developed that doesn’t totally screw up the search results and cause collateral damage when their algorithm is updated?
I think it’s time for Google to pass the search engine torch to another company or group of people that is not so incompetent, out-of-touch, ruthless, and monopolistic.
Here’s some additional feelings on the subject that I posted on Chris Rempel’s blog:
Google’s latest algorithm changes reveal their terrible quality control. Hey Google–how do you justify hiring hundreds of PhD brainiacs who produce such abysmal search results? Of course your billionaire founders don’t give a crap as thousands of legitimate websites and blogs get trashed by YOUR incompetence. Hey Larry and Sergey, I heard that Burger King is hiring. Maybe both of you can learn how to complete an order without burning the fries.
Always love you views on topics like this, and sorry I don’t mean to be crude but, damn your pretty!
Great post Michelle..I like your description of a strategy..hypothesis..I have not heard that used in the SEO arena before..many seo strategies are presented as fact..until now.
I appreciate the video very much. I know I have personally unsubscribed off a couple of lists where they were trying to offer the “solution”. Really…come on..how many people fall for this? Like you said, there hasn’t been time to analyze and let things shake out. Sadly enough must or they wouldn’t keep trying it.
Thanx Michelle!
Here is another useful information and I think these guys work great.
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-penguin-update-whiteboard-friday
Not really sure if stopping all link building campaigns is the best way to go.
Regards!
Language Michelle lol.
The reason for Penguin was never really a hypothetical for me. Well, I mean my company. We saw signs of this occurring in early February and knew what we were facing, a possible Google update. In any case, we figured out exactly what the problem was really early on and when Penguin hit, we were doing well, or at least our clients were. In any case, great post but I do think penguin is old news, the solutions too. It just seems like a whole lot of people are trying to figure it out without testing. I guess that’s what separates the big boys from the rest.
Tony
That was kinda my point!