Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 0 The word “penguin” generally brings to mind a cute, black-and-white bird that can’t flay and that walks with a delightful waddle. The Google Penguin, however, is somewhat less benign. The Penguin is a new set of guidelines for ranking the order in which sites appear on the search engine. As a result of the shake-up, sites which once earned high ranks are now finding themselves towards the bottom of the list, or worse, off the list altogether. What should you do if your website has been downgraded by Penguin? This post can help you figure out your next steps. Why Google Penguin? Google Penguin was developed to cut back on the astronomical number of spam websites that use questionable practices like duplicating content from another site (i.e., plagiarism), stuffing content so full of keywords that it comes impossible to read, or cloaking — trying to fool the search engine by sending electronic “bots” to one page of content and human visitors to another. By the time everything is all sorted out, Penguin will prove a tremendous asset to sites that follow the rules, but right now, everyone involved — including Google — is feeling some significant growing pains. Don’t Rush Into Major Revisions Your site might have lost some of its page rank status when Penguin was introduced. A lot of sites did. Google is still working with Penguin and making changes to ensure sites that follow the rules won’t be unfairly penalized. Before you rush in and take action, let Google finish their tweaks. If you still have a lower page rating than you believe you deserve, you can communicate with the search engine giant to find out why. Use Original, Fresh Content Whether you’re selling classic CDs or renting a YaleChase California forklift, you need to be sure the content on your website is original — not lifted or closely paraphrased from another site. If content is your problem, you may even want to consider hiring a copywriter to make sure your content is unique. It’s also important to update your website with fresh content on a regular basis. This can easily be accomplished by keeping a blog or by adding an updates section where you post new information about your company or industry. Use Keywords Sparingly Keywords are the words or phrases people type into the search engine to find the information they’re looking for. For instance, if your company rents industrial equipment in California, a potential client may find you with a keyword phrase like “forklift rental Los Angeles.” While it is important to use keywords in your copy, it’s not smart to keep using the same phrase over and over. This is known as “keyword stuffing” and if Penguin catches you at it, you’re toast. Google Penguin doesn’t have to be your enemy. In fact, if you play your cards right, it could be your best friend because it will downgrade the sites of competitors who don’t follow the rules. Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article was written for Business 2 Community by Alan Draper.Learn how to publish your content on B2C Join our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage Author: Alan Draper Based in the United Kingdom, Business 2 Community editor Alan is part of the team that’s responsible for ensuring all the content on our site is accurate, relevant and up-to-date. In addition to editing, he is also a writer and an expert on the stock market. Alan has previously written … View full profile ›More by this author:Get Free Bitcoin and Earn Interest on Crypto with ZenGo5 Best Cryptos to Buy on the Dip in the May Crypto CrashEuroswap EDEX: Last TokenSale phase before listing – team announces the list of exchanges