(19)
The Google Penguin algorithm has been taunting SEOs for a long time now, but did you know there are different degrees of Penguin?
It is not that you are hit by the Penguin algorithm or not. You can be hit harder or softer depending on your links.
Google's head of search spam, Matt Cutts, posted on Twitter to a webmaster that he has a "very mild case of Penguin." Yea, there is clearly such a thing as degrees of Penguin.
Here is Matt's tweet:
@chipnicodemus I'd recommend continuing to clean backlinks though. You still have a very mild case of Penguin.
— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) April 8, 2014So I guess a site that is impacted by the Penguin algorithm can be impacted a lot or a little or somewhere in between?
Forum discussion at Twitter.
Comments:
mamouhalos
04/08/2014 01:39 pm
Or this is totally BS...
Thomas
04/08/2014 01:41 pm
could just be cuttz trying to be funny... or not.
Rick
04/08/2014 01:53 pm
I believe he is telling the truth. I have seen sites with bad links that take a hit right around the time of an update but don't really drop off much. It makes it hard to say that a site was hit but it looks like it.
Marie Haynes
04/08/2014 02:47 pm
I've seen Penguin hit different sites to different degrees. Many SEOs think that Penguin can just hit with a huge devastating blow, but I've seen it knock sites from the first page to the second page. These would be sites that had *mostly* good links but dabbled in a little bit of manipulative link building.
Nick Ker
04/08/2014 04:05 pm
Same here, but I also saw that type of thing before Penguin - back when people suspected that there were penalties/filters that limited a site's ranking ability due to over promotion. People called those 30/50 penalities (maybe 90 too?) based on where the limit supposedly was. There were also noticeable drops from page one to two or three which you could usually attribute to just a few links that were spammy. You'd see it for some keywords but not all, and some key phrase variations worse than others. After penguin, people stopped speculating about that. I thought those less severe over-promotion penalties were rolled into Penguin - or at least became indistinguishable from it. If Matt is serious and not just trying to break spirits, then it looks as though this multi-level limiting hasn't changed - it is just part of Penguin now.
Tian_Mian
04/08/2014 04:18 pm
I didn't know there was a dumbass out there thinking Penguin hits each targeted site with the same degree. It's like thinking there's only one form of manual action.
Chipper Nicodemus
04/08/2014 05:28 pm
Marie that is exactly the situation here. We were coming out of a manual penalty, so it would make sense that some of the "other links" a previous SEO firm got would also negatively affect us.
David Matson
04/08/2014 08:26 pm
It's not a shocking revelation, but it REALLY drives home how much you want to be scrupulous about both adding to and monitoring you existing backlink profile. If only WMT would tell us if we had tripped an algorithmic filter unknowingly. Matt can tell that your site has a "very mild case of Penguin" with ease, but for most people it is incredibly hard to tell.
Mike Pannell
04/08/2014 09:31 pm
I sure hope i have done enough to atleast have a mild case of penguin or none at all. I am so tried of cleaning up links.. To date I have clean up 650 linking domains out of 1000 that webmater tools shows..
Michael Pellman
04/09/2014 12:21 am
Commenting on blogs with link text(Dallas Realtor) in your username is bad form and can contribute to a mild case of the Penguins. While the links here do not count, you might want to ensure you're not using this technique elsewhere.
Barry Schwartz
04/09/2014 12:23 am
You seem like a nice person.
Mike Pannell
04/09/2014 01:39 am
I understand that but that doesnt link to my site.. I also an not sure where that came from.. I normally dont comment on blogs...
Mike Pannell
04/09/2014 01:40 am
I found it and removed it lol..
Barry White
04/09/2014 04:39 am
Say Hello to Barry then.
Adam Heaton
04/09/2014 08:35 am
Oh look, an SEO up his own arse, that's a first...
Deb Dulal Dey
04/09/2014 08:52 am
shit I am another dumbass
Barry Schwartz
04/09/2014 10:05 am
It was good to have in writing btw.
Amit kumar
04/09/2014 11:29 am
is it true in really
Tian_Mian
04/09/2014 01:42 pm
yeah, was rough. Love you.