June 7 2013

The next update from Google is here, and webmasters the world over are eager to know what this could mean for their websites. Rolled out on the afternoon of May 22, 2013, the latest update from Google has affected approximately 2.3% of Google search queries in English, and the impact is expected to keep spreading.  Even though this is technically the fourth Penguin update by Google, insiders are referring to it as Penguin 2.0, since the previous two were simply data refreshes, while this is an all-new algorithm.

Here’s a look at what changes webmasters can expect to see in Google search results over the coming summer, and who needs to be worried about Google’s latest update-

  • Apparently, website owners whose focus is on providing high-quality and engaging content to users have no reason to worry this time around. Google’s aim is to bring compelling sites that users love higher in its organic search results.
  • The Penguin 2.0 update is being stated as the next generation of Penguin updates, and is claimed to be a lot more comprehensive and deeply impacting towards detecting and eliminating black hat web spam from Google search results. So if you have been spending a lot of time generating back links on black hat sources, this might not be a great summer for you.
  • Google is laying major focus on paid advertorials and linked websites through Penguin 2.0. Those indulging in these practices shall be required to offer clear and concise disclaimers of the ads being paid to users, and shall not be allowed to float page rank on Google.
  • Penguin 2.0 is making an effort to address specific user complaints that have been flowing in over the past year. For instance, users have been complaining about spamming in search results for “payday loans” on Google.co.uk. Issues like these shall be addressed through the sophisticated algorithms of this update.
  • Through its latest update, Google intends to completely deny value to link spammers through a “completely different system of link analysis”.
  • Focus shall also be laid on hack site detection, along with efforts to improve communication with webmasters. Google is making an effort to provide more concrete details with exemplary information to webmasters on how to deal with hacking threats.
  • Websites that were pushed to the “border zone” through previous updates have a ray of hope as Penguin 2.0 shall focus on refining search results for these websites.
  • Websites that are perceived as authorities in a particular space e.g. medical, travel etc. can also expect to be pushed higher on Google search results.