From 23rd September 2016, 99 out of 100 Search Engine Optimization (SEO Analyst/Specialist) practitioners, SEO firms, Webmasters, Digital Marketers, Website owners, Bloggers, Internet influencers & those who love to earn money online with the help of Google (not only AdSense) would have searched for this “Google Penguin 4.0”. Why not? Yes, Why not? As that is their prime business & more. Hope you know, the Google Search Engine Result Page (SERP) rely on Google Core Algorithm, which depends on more than 200 unique ranking signals. Interestingly, Quality Content, Backlinks & Rankbrain are the 3 major ranking signals to stay on top of Google SERP, affirmed by Google.
Now, the Google Penguin 4.0 becomes the 4th major Ranking Signal for SERP, officially.
Ok. Now, Let us look further what exactly is this Penguin 4.0 algorithm, features of Penguin 4.0, impacts of Penguin 4 for websites, how to check the website is hit by Penguin 4.0 or not, and finally how to recover from Google Penguin 4.0 core algorithm in the following lines.
What exactly is Google Penguin 4.0 Real Time Algorithm?
The keyword “Penguin” named for the Google Core Algorithm, which simply & strictly maintains the quality of sites in offering the results for the user’s query. Traditionally, if any of your website(s) got hit by any of the Google Core Algorithm updates such as Google Panda, Google Penguin & so on, you need to wait for the same to get refreshed to see the improvements! Interestingly, it’s not going to happen in real time and sometimes it takes a couple of years as well. Yes, the last Penguin 3.0 update was released April 24, 2014.
However, the Google Penguin algorithm history is about to change with the latest version 4.0 Penguin. Indeed, “Penguin’s data is refreshed in real time, so changes will be visible much faster, typically taking effect shortly after we recrawl and reindex a page”, post by Google.
Google Penguin 4 becomes more granular i.e. now it can devalue spam by simply adjusting the ranking based on spam signals, instead of affecting the whole website.
Note: As Google Penguin 4 becomes real time core algorithm, we won’t get any updates from officials regarding the refreshes in the future.
Features of Google Penguin 4.0 Core Algorithm:
Let us see all the latest features added to Penguin 4.0 core algorithm here.
- The negative or positive side of the website is calculated in real time. You will get hit or recover from the Penguin 4.0 each time the website is crawled & indexed.
- The impact level of Penguin penalty will be applied to the whole website or even to the page level indeed. Perhaps, it could hit or recover keywords, folders, sub-domains, pages and more.
- It is nearly impossible to recognize any minor penguin 4.0 penalties.
- To the page level impact, there is a higher chance of penguin 4.0 hit to the keyword stuffed pages than others.
Google roll out the new Penguin 4 update in all languages (don’t expect in Chinese, LOL) and hence you don’t see major changes on changing the language in SERP!
When Does Google Penguin 4 Will Come to Play?
As we discussed earlier, the all new Penguin 4 is a real time algorithm, which will fight against the spam each and every time the website is crawled & indexed for SERP. Let us see, how likely is a website will get hit by Google Penguin 4.0 in real time.
Though I may not have the complete list of factors that is likely to receive Penguin 4 penalty (perhaps who has?), the following factors are highly harmful to get hit by the same.
- The backlinks from poor quality or spammy websites
- Mostly the links which are created only for the SEO purposes i.e. through Private Blog Networks (PBN) & more
- Paid links (not sure about the guest posts)
- Backlinks from the irrelevant contents or topics.
- Backlinks from overly optimized Anchor Texts.
How to Find Whether or Not My Site is Hit by Google Penguin 4.0 Update?
It is very easy to find whether your website got Google Penguin 4 penalty or not. Yes, it is and is as follows.
The sudden drop in the organic traffic (highly, Google) is the first symptom to discover the penguin 4 penalty to the website.
Or
You are still impacted if you don’t see any or small rise in the rankings right after the Penguin 3.0.
How to Recover from Google Penguin 4.0 Hit Penalty in Real Time?
Some of the basic tips to recover from Google Penguin 4 are as follows.
First, know your link profile and how it looks compared to your competitors.
Monitor your back link profile, constantly.
Make the most of the Google Disavow tool.
Monitor Your SERP Rankings Constantly:
You can either check it with any of your available SEO tools and some free ideas will also work to some extent. Hope the paid SEO tool users knew how to check the SERP rankings changes.
For the free users, you can simply check their sudden position drops in the Search Console tool formerly Webmaster Tools. Don’t confuse with the CTR, as it has nothing to do with the Penguin 4 update.
Maintain Clean & High-Quality Backlink Profile:
It is highly advised to have your backlink profile as clean as possible i.e. avoiding spammy or irrelevant sites. Also, utilize the proper redirects for broken links.
Nevertheless, have a deep link audit to your website, as the penguin 4.0 is more granular, you might not know, which folder or sub-domain or pages of the website is hit by the same.
Make the Most of Disavow Tool:
The Disavow Tool is one of the best & ultimate free tool available to recover from the Google Penguin 4 penalty. Yes, updating the Disavow files (as needed) will help you in recovering from Penguin 4 hit as faster as possible, say in real time.
If you aren’t sure about “How to use the Disavow Tool to recover from Penguin 4.0” use this User Guide.
Conclusion
Finally, the Google Penguin 4 isn’t separated from Google Core Algorithm anymore & there is no future Google Penguin 5.0 as well. Everything, either the penalty or the Google Penguin 4.0 recovery is happening in a real time, which is highly useful for those who maintain high-quality sites (as advised by Google Webmaster Guidelines). It is highly advised to SEO people to have a link audit, at least once in a week & make the most of the “disavow” tool to recover from Google Penguin 4 in real time.
If your site is hit, all the best for your Penguin 4.0 recovery, if not, please know “How to Stay away from Penguin 4.0 Penalty in real time“
Share it with those who really find “How to Recover from Google Penguin 4 Penalty“
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