A survey recently published from BrightEdge is finding that many marketers are living in fear of the so called Penguin 2.0 update which Google reports could be implemented any time within the next two weeks or so. The previous versions of the update caused great havoc in the online marketing and SEO communities due to the punishment sites with ‘spammy’ link profiles received. With Google implying that this latest update will be larger and further reaching than previous instances it is no wonder that people making a living online are nervous.
The survey results found that up to 36% of those surveyed believe it is far more important to analyze every page on a site for low-quality links. Another 36% believe that while it is not essential to do every single page, it is still more important today than in 2012. Those surveyed also reported that they have found that it is important to have a good internal linking strategy on their own sites to help make navigation easier and more intuitive.
These are all good things for the average web browser, as they will make high quality websites rank higher up in Google’s search results, and when actually browsing the sites it will be easier to navigate as well. Google has long said that their goal was always to give the people doing the searching the best possible results and most marketers expect this will be another step in that direction.
With all the rumors floating around based on what people have inferred from Google’s recent comments on the Penguin 2.0 release there is one thing almost everyone agrees on. Black Hat SEO practices are going to take another significant hit. Webmasters and marketers using automated tools or purchasing spammy links from other providers are justifiably scared of what this update will bring. Marketers using exclusively white hat practices most likely have very little to fear. Though it is impossible to know what the impact will be, Google has long been friendly to sites who aren’t actively trying to manipulate their system through methods they don’t approve of.
Legitimate marketers, however, may have one valid concern about this update. There has already been many examples of competitors buying spammy links which are directed toward their competition’s websites. They can quickly build tens of thousands of links as an attempt to get the competition’s ranking to drop. This ‘negative-SEO’ can be difficult to combat because most of the sites which allow these spammy back-links to be placed on them will not be responsive to a request to have it taken down.
As with the rest of the marketing community, I’ll be watching for the results of this update anxiously. I’m sure it will have a major impact on many people in 2013 and beyond. The full survey can be found HERE. Take a look at it and post your thoughts below!
