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Yesterday we covered the poll results of those impacted by Penguin 2.0 and today I wanted to share the results from our June poll asking how many of you recovered from the Penguin 2.0 update.
We had over 600 responses to the poll and 68% said they did not recover, why 17% said they partially recovered and 7% said they fully recovered. 8% said it did not apply to them.
You can compare this to our Penguin 2013 survey from the Penguin 1.0 update recoveries showing only 9% said they fully recovered. The numbers and percentages aren't all that different between 2.0 and 1.0 recovery responses.
The truth is, I don't know if Google rank any Penguin update between 2.0 and the time I ran this poll. That being said, I don't know how anyone could recover from Penguin 2.0 when Penguin hasn't be rerun by Google. Which goes to the poll disclaimer post, which talks about perception versus reality.
Here is the pie chart:
Forum discussion continued at Google+, Cre8asite Forums, WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums, Black Hat World and Google Webmaster Help.
Disclaimer: Please see my poll disclaimer post before coming to any conclusions on these results.
This story was scheduled to be posted today and was not written today, as I am offline today.
Comments:
Alex Genadinik
09/06/2013 12:30 pm
That is really terrible. I think that largely speaks to the respect Google has for webmasters.
Alan
09/07/2013 12:06 am
As we have all suspected. Just about anything Matt Cutts says is a waste of time.
James Norquay
09/07/2013 12:28 pm
Penguin 2.0 did hit some sites very heavily on a landing page basis, we have worked on a few big cases recently some sites have noted small recovery, yet others we are still pushing hard. I still see some sites trying to recover from penguin 1.0.
Google-loves-small-biz-NOT!
09/07/2013 02:49 pm
Google only cares about Google. Google could give a flying f**k about webmasters. Google only ever wanted webmasters on board at the start when they needed to gain traction. Now they have perpetual motion and are bred into the Psyche of at least 1 generation, the last people Google wants anything to do with for organic search is hundreds and thousands of spammers. Otherwise know to me and you as small businesses. My site that has spent the last year and a half in hell and gets rave reviews from the customer base, barely registers on Googles radar. So, the answer is, if you received an unnatural links warning and have subsequently cleaned up and removed the penalty, you are probably still caught in an algorithm penalty. That´s the beast that will now hold you back indefinitely! So, thanks Google for your SOFTENING but as you can see in the REAL WORLD that was just the latest in a long line of lies. I think the word of Google is probably the least trusted word on the net. Do a survey Barry and ask who trusts what Google says. Do you dare to do that Barry?
Sha Menz
09/07/2013 06:14 pm
Hi Barry, I think it has to be said that much of the failure to recover can be very easily sheeted home to the same old problem of people taking shortcuts and trying to do as little as possible to deal with the problem. In talking to people on the rmoov support line I hear the same things repeated every day: "I just ignored all the domains where I couldn't auto-pull contact information"; "I don't want to kill my link profile so I'm only trying to clean up the really bad stuff"; "those links are more than five years old, I'm not going to bother with those" and the list goes on.... When people make choices and assumptions like these, all of which chip away at the integrity of the clean up effort, the only outcome you can hope for is a poor one. As always, human nature is at the core of the problem :( Sha
Dumb-&-Dumber
09/07/2013 08:19 pm
So you are saying that the majority of webmasters are stupid. I think that says a lot about you. The Back Link Removal Tool.... right... So how many of your clients use the tool correctly? From what you are saying they are too stupid to use it correctly. Either that or your tool is junk or it makes no difference how many links are removed. I suspect that might be the case. I doubt everyone is just stupid like you think they are.
Sha Menz
09/07/2013 09:51 pm
No, I am saying that many people choose to disregard large portions of the problem because they are ordinary humans who want it to go away with as little effort as possible. In many cases people have gotten these ideas from reading a plethora of rather unhelpful blog posts on the subject. Generally most people understand when it is explained to them that ignoring big chunks of the link profile you think are bad is going to leave the problem largely unsolved. The choices I referred to take place long before a customer is using rmoov (we do not provide algorithmic analysis because we believe the margin for error is unacceptable, so our customers begin by uploading the list of URLs they want to remove links from). Most people understand once it is explained to them that trimming their list will likely limit their success. If I thought the vast majority of webmasters were "stupid" I would not be spending hours of my time every day talking personally with them on the phone to help them get the best results they possibly can. I don't call people names, jump to conclusions or spend my days railing at Google. I much prefer helping people to understand where not to make simple mistakes that will continue to hurt them. There is no room for emotion in link removal. When you are dealing with an algorithm bitterness will leave you with nothing but a bad taste in your mouth. Thankfully most of the people I explain that to are able to take it on board and move on with doing what needs to be done. For those who don't want to hear it I can do little more than hope that somewhere down the track they might see or hear something (perhaps even a comment on Barry's blog) that will help them look at it again with fresh eyes.
Dumb-&-Dumber
09/07/2013 10:03 pm
So those that you explain it to and they finally get it, recover nicely do they? You know, once they take on your sage wisdom, they butcher up those bad boy links for good and they then go on to live happily ever after. Right?
Sha Menz
09/07/2013 10:16 pm
Generally what we hear from clients is that where they have done a thorough job and where there are no other issues with their site (panda, emd, technical SEO issues etc), they have seen very gradual improvement over time with big bumps when algorithm updates occur. Barry makes a valid point regarding updates for Penguin 2.0.
Sha Shill
09/08/2013 09:17 am
I think it has to be said that much of the failure to recover can be very easily sheeted home to the same old problem of Google being rigged to the core. Google manipulates search to increase ad clicks and advertisers and Matt lies--all the time. Two universal truth Mrs Dumbo. Even Barry knows by know, he's not that dumb but cannot openly say or his $$ will suffers
Dump Google
09/08/2013 09:18 am
I think it has to be said that much of the failure to recover can be very easily sheeted home to the same old problem of Google being rigged to the core. Google manipulates search to increase ad clicks and advertisers and Matt lies--all the time. Two universal truth Mrs Dumbo. Even Barry knows by know, he's not that dumb but cannot openly say or his $$ will suffers. Google is rigged and we should support non-Google engines.
Barry Schwartz
09/08/2013 10:30 am
My $$ will go away?
guy
09/09/2013 05:52 pm
it only confirm idea what penguin and panda was created to prevent any recovery (except for new & brand sites)
guy
09/09/2013 05:55 pm
you totally incorrect. you just not have idea how hard peoples trying to do lot of things to recover their sites (links/design/pages/content/everything) but nothing really work.
guy
09/09/2013 06:01 pm
exactly, him only trying to "save face"
guy
09/09/2013 06:02 pm
respect and trust
exGozZzgler
09/09/2013 11:41 pm
The best way to recovery from these demonic updates is, listen well: STOP GIVING YOUR SITE's INFO TO GOOGLE. Stop using Google Analytics, stop using G+ buttons, stop using AdSense if possible, STOP using any kind of Google code or gadget that connects your site with its database, if you don't give the information about your stats to Google they don't have a way to judge your site. STOP using Google services and these updates created by a demon inside the company, will free you. I'm talking seriously.
Rick Lomas
11/30/2013 09:00 am
Recovery is possible, but it's not easy. If you want me to help see my comment above.
Rick Lomas
11/30/2013 09:04 am
I used to think that, but the more I look into it and the more I have done to recover my penguined site, I can see why Matt Cutts is there. He has a cunning way of avoiding saying what we need to here, but it does actually make sense. I've been cringing when I have seen the amount of $h1t I have sprayed all over the internet in the last 5 years, clean up has been a long, hard process.