On October 17th 2014, the new Google update – Penguin 3.0 started rolling out. We were told that the process would be slow and that we could expect to see ranking fluctuations during the next few weeks. The interesting part is that more than a month later, the update is still rolling, and fluctuations are still happening (at least up until Thanksgiving).
It’s not usually typical for Google to roll out updates so slowly but it’s not that surprising. With every new update they introduce, things are getting more and more complicated in the world and there is no tendency of stopping.
The Penguin update deals with spammy and low quality links – the forte of black hats (which is why you don’t see many of them running around with that ridiculous attire anymore). 3.0 just continues the tendency.
It was about time that Google introduced a new update, to be honest. Not because the old ones weren’t working well enough or anything, but us SEOs needed a reminder that things are still moving forward no matter what happens and that we shouldn’t get too comfortable with the situation.
It’s not that the new Penguin is changing things drastically, but it does stir the water a bit. Some types of links that used to be OK are no longer OK. Some techniques that managed to slip through in the past few updates were finally caught.
Basically, with the new version Google are saying, “Keep up the good work, guys, but don’t forget that we’re watching. We’re always watching.” Kind of creepy, but also true. This is one thing that we should never forget – search results are one Google’s products, and if you try to mess with that, you will pay dearly.
NXTFactor offers excellent white hat SEO services so don’t hesitate to give us a call. Happy holidays!