Google is set to reveal an update to its algorithm that will make Google Penguin react in real-time.

The Google Penguin algorithm was first released in 2012 in order to ensure that sites are following the Google Webmaster Guidelines. It introduced a variety of punitive measures for sites using ‘black hat’ or spammy SEO techniques.

This meant that the quantity of links linking to a website no longer mattered as much as the quality of those links.

An update to the algorithm is predicted to happen within the next month or so. Here’s a quick overview of the particular aspect of SEO it could impact to help you understand the anticipated change:

When a website that has backlinks (links that other web pages have that lead to your site) which are spammy or considered low-quality by Google’s standards, your site may be penalised in search results.

These links could be artificial, or they could come from link networks, spam users, or other websites like blogs that just have a very low PageRank or appear as spam to Google. The creation of these backlinks can sometimes be out of your control, but SEO professionals are able to take care of them.

If links could be harming your site’s Pagerank, these can be removed using an advanced feature called the disavow tool. Google recommends that only those who are very confident use this tool, as it could actually damage your site if a user doesn’t understand the impact on search results.

Currently, once a webmaster signals Google to disavow bad links, these links aren’t immediately removed from the account. It can take a number of months for Google to process the request to disavow the links from your site.

That’s where the algorithm change comes in.

The 4.2 update will change how Google reacts with websites, in terms of how it deals with removed or disavowed links. It will now process removed links in real time giving you much more control over the quality of backlinks coming to your website.

In simple terms, if you receive a Google penalty, your website should be able to recover much more quickly once poor quality links have been removed.

It’s unclear exactly when the change will occur, although speculation via a Tweet from a Google Webmaster Trends analyst said it should be in early 2015. We’ll let you know when it happens.

In the meantime, if you want help reviewing your backlinks, or if you think your site has suffered under the Penguin algorithm, get in touch with our team of SEO experts in Newcastle and we can help out.

 

— GIF Credit: Business Insider.  

—Post updated 6/1/2016

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