SEO -- Google Penguin update

[jay santos]

Is anyone informed on this and willing to share their knowledge?

My site was hit hard. I'm getting conflicting messages on how to fix the damage and whether it's possible.

[DrumNFeather]

This article has some good info and tips.

http://mashable.com/2012/07/03/penguin-google-seo/

Released April 2012, this algorithm put tighter guidelines on website optimization and adjusted a number of web spam factors, including keyword stuffing, cloaking, unnatural links and content spinning.
Contrary to popular belief, Google’s goal isn’t to run wild with algorithm updates and penalize every site until there are only 10 decent sites left. Google just wants to make the web a better place, and it does that by rewarding people who do things right. It’s been saying this all along, but people only seem to take notice when their analytics look something like this:

For a while, everyone was hailing Penguin as putting a stop to over-optimization, which while true, caused a lot of people to adjust their website so heavily that it wasn’t even optimized at all. That boiled down to keywords.

With Penguin in place, you still need to have your keywords in your content. That’s how search engines know what your site is about. But you shouldn’t have your keywords as every other word, bolded in your text. That’s spam. Here’s how to keep your keywords in check:

Don’t write your content first and then put your keywords in. It will look unnatural. Have your keywords in mind and naturally incorporate them as you write.
Reread your body content. If it sounds shady, it probably is.
Title Tags: Still put your most important keyword first in your title tag, but make sure you have your brand name in there, too. I follow this formula: “Main Keyword | Company Name Secondary Keyword”
Image optimization: Name your images your keyword names only if they related to that keyword. For ALT attributes, they should describe the picture, which hopefully will include your keyword and some other descriptive words as well.

I know that one area my company has been affected in the most has been the reviews. They've made reviews for Google places much more like a Zagat system, which is both good and bad.

[DrumNFeather]

Here's another decent article: http://searchengineland.com/penguin-...sel-home-stbox

and this is a follow up to it, I believe: http://searchengineland.com/google-t...ive-seo-120463

[Tim]

This article has some good info and tips.

http://mashable.com/2012/07/03/penguin-google-seo/

I know that one area my company has been affected in the most has been the reviews. They've made reviews for Google places much more like a Zagat system, which is both good and bad.

They haven't just made it more like a Zagat system, they *actually bought Zagat* and incorporated it as part of Google Local.

[jay santos]

The mixed advice I've had is regards to "bad links". I can identify links that are considered bad, per Penguin, or at least I can identify of my links which are the worst. The question is whether I should take the time to remove those links, and how much impact that would have. Or should the focus be simply on positive actions moving forward?

[DrumNFeather]

The mixed advice I've had is regards to "bad links". I can identify links that are considered bad, per Penguin, or at least I can identify of my links which are the worst. The question is whether I should take the time to remove those links, and how much impact that would have. Or should the focus be simply on positive actions moving forward?

It's probably gotta be both, honestly. I'd focus first on the positive, and slowly remove the bad links over time. If your site got hit and you're seeing a serious dip in traffic as a result, then I'd make it a priority to get rid of the "spam" that may be hurting your rankings. Otherwise, work on the positive SEO first.

[DrumNFeather]

They haven't just made it more like a Zagat system, they *actually bought Zagat* and incorporated it as part of Google Local.

Which, one would think, would make someone less likely to post a bad review if they don't want to attach their name to it.

[jay santos]

It's probably gotta be both, honestly. I'd focus first on the positive, and slowly remove the bad links over time. If your site got hit and you're seeing a serious dip in traffic as a result, then I'd make it a priority to get rid of the "spam" that may be hurting your rankings. Otherwise, work on the positive SEO first.

Thanks. I'm reviewing my links, and I think I'm going to define a bad link as low PR with over 150 outbound links. About 1/3 of my links are in this category. It pisses me off because I paid good money to develop these links.

[DrumNFeather]

Thanks. I'm reviewing my links, and I think I'm going to define a bad link as low PR with over 150 outbound links. About 1/3 of my links are in this category. It pisses me off because I paid good money to develop these links.

You can PM me if you want me to take a look and help. My company hired an outside vendor to help with inbound links and it was totally shady and we were getting links from all sort of random blogs and sites out there. We cut them loose at the end of May.