SEO Penguin 2.1 - Yep Google rolled out another update on Link spam just about a week after the Hummingbird update. Wrapping them all together like that keeps everyone guessing. The Penguin 2.1 is said to have affected only 1 percent of searches. If you dropped considerably this weekend you were affected by this combination.
No one knows what changes this latest algo addressed, according to it`s name web spam is a big part. I`m also seeing the index constantly changing, so I`m not sure if it`s even settled in yet.
If Google has said, via Webmaster Tools, that it now hates your site then there is no baby in the bath water:
- get a new domain
- put a 404 page on the old domain (deleting all the old pages) with a graphic telling visitors where your new domain is (no link and no 301s)
- start again
Here`s the facts as I see them: "My client lost all their ranks and I don`t know why" really means: I am a thief because I am charging some poor schmuck to perform a service in which I know nothing about. If that`s indeed the case 1) I don`t really feel like helping a thief and 2) no amount of advice is going to help this thief because you can`t learn SEO in a forum post. So! Get a new domain and start over seems to work best.
CONCLUSION: Nothing has changed during this update - algo is still same bad algo. This update was just:
- removing from rankings websites with links flagged by other users as "unnatural" by disavow tool
- removing some random websites from serps (more income from adwords + more disavow links for the next update)
And that`s all. Analyzing and filtering whole database takes 3-4 monts. This is why "updates" takes 3-4 months. It doesn`t matter if this is penguin or panda or other animal. Don`t ask me how I`m so sure about this. I have my sources ;-)
What I`m noticing is this:
Sites that made any changes (titles and or content) are in the index one minuet then gone the next or dropped a few pages, then it`ll come back and bounce again.
This has been happening all week long, ever since Google Penguin 2.1 was rolled out.
Sites that didn`t have any changes varied just a little but are not bouncing in and out. I have a strange feeling google has an issue or a conflict with their last update and their trying to fix it..then refreshing their data and that`s what were seeing.
I wouldn`t do anything and let the serps settle down.
