I have chosen to write about a particularly hot topic in the search engine optimisation industry today – Google Panda and Penguin. In particular I like to discuss my thoughts on why SEO is immortal and by going back over previous updates that Google may have rolled out, you’ll start to see a very familiar trend.
Those of you familiar with these update have seen the impact that it can have on websites that have fallen afoul of Webmaster guidelines and in certain cases sites that are entirely innocent have also been caught in the particularly wide net that Google has cast.
As is customary when a new algorithm is rolled out, the forums and blogosphere churns out post after post on why SEO is now dead in an attempt to pull in the masses that may have been hit by these algorithms. After being involved in the search engine optimisation industry is not only becomes tiresome to see the same repetitive posts, but it becomes quite irritating as well.
SEO is a term that adapts to its host. It will evolve many times and to those marketers that don’t update their strategies and techniques tshen SEO will be dead to them, but SEO is not something you can kill.
What is Panda & Penguin & Why Should I Care?
1. Google Panda
The Google Panda algorithm was a change that first unleashed upon the world in February of 2011. It was released to target low quality sites that may have achieved results that users may have found irrelevant or returned results for article directories and low quality platforms that were built without user interaction in-mind, but were targeting search engine results as a primary goal. A number of businesses were built around the “content is king” platform and were subsequently wiped out in the wake of Google Panda.
This particular update had a very widespread impact on sites that we utilising article marketing as one of their primary avenues of search engine optimisation. So not only did this update penalised sites like EzineArticles & GoArticles but those who had been active participants in these arenas felt the sting as well.
2. Google Penguin
Google Penguin however was initially released as an over optimisation penalty although we were unsure what this meant to begin with the general understanding is that this update targets off page optimisation and over optimisation of anchor texts.
A number of Webmasters who had been participating in blog networks and high levels of low quality link building were seen complaining on numerous forums as content thin affiliate sites and sites that had used dubious strategies to achieve their link profile were thrown off page 1 into the abyss.
3. Why You Should Care
These updates aren’t going away, Google has stated on numerous occasions that Google Penguin and Panda are both a success and have improved search results for multiple verticals. If your site has been hit by either of these updates then you’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of you to correct whatever it is that you may have done wrong.
Evolution of SEO
Algorithm updates have become the norm, looking back at major updates gone by like Boston, Hilltop, Big Daddy and more. By performing a search for “SEO Is Dead” you’ll be able to find posts dating back to 2003.
With the trend that shows us how it was easy to manipulate on page elements to achieve superior rankings, and how that trend has shifted to manipulating off page elements to achieve the same results.
Why SEO Is Immortal
Whether search engine optimisation incorporates social signals, or goes down a completely different route, it will still live in some way ,shape, or form. Marketers will always find a way to manipulate or “optimise” for search engines, so long as organic results are trusted more than paid for results.
The day that sponsored results are more trustworthy than organic results is the day that SEO may no longer be an avenue that internet marketers take, but until that day comes. Long live SEO!