Webmasters around the world started spending sleepless nights ever since Google released its first Penguin Update on April 24, 2012. Launched with the prime objective of eliminating black-hat SEO tactics, this update was able to shake (literally!) the foundation of search engine results. Websites which reached the top of the SERPs via link schemes, soon found their rankings falling rapidly. While some of these websites are still suffering from the aftermath of a Penguin penalty, it is not stopping Google from constantly updating the Penguin algorithm, and tightening the noose even more.
A couple of weeks back, Google’s angry bird went a step further again. Matt Cutts via Twitter officially announced the unleashing of Penguin 2.1 on October 4, 2013. This update is the successor of Penguin 2.0 which released back in May 2013. If you take interest in the world of search engine optimization, it is evident that you are totally aware of all the Penguin updates so far. And if you are not aware, there is nothing to worry about.
Here is an infographic which shows how Google Penguin evolved over time, and the impact of individual updates on the search engine results.
Source: piktochart.com
With a gap of only a few months between two updates, it is pretty clear that new Penguin updates will start following soon. You must, therefore, be prepared and do things just the way Google wants. Stay on the right track and apply the white-hat SEO tactics. If you are in Google’s good-book, your website surely will remain quite far away from harm’s way.