Detecting the Different Types of Link Penalties

If this year for some, was the best of the times, for others it was a virtual nightmare. The SEOs and the webmasters would agree to the sentiment especially from June 2012. With some websites reaching the record high SERPs, others have been severely penalized with Google dishing them out. For some, the nightmares got worse with Google’s new update penalty for manipulative links, to the ultimatum of someone suggesting, abandoning of the site and rebuilding new ones! The identification being the first step, the website proprietors are not aware of the penalization. Once a drop in traffic and ranking is detected, does the investigation begin!

Diagnosing the penalties

Manual Penalty with Notifications from Google

The first step to identify the punishment is by Google sending relative information. The owner can log in their Webmaster Tools account and search for the message page. Enlisted here is one such dreaded message. Matt Cutts, a Google employee stated that more than 25,000 webmasters had received these notices.

The message would state the punishment vented out for unnatural links. With this manual message sent across to the webmaster, the Search Engine Optimization Specialist can concentrate on the fixing of the problem. If there is no manual information, the other possibility is being targeted by Google Penguin.

The Algorithmic Penalties of Google: The Penguin Update

Penguin was born in April 24, 2012. If rankings were affected affecting the traffic, it was due to the Penguin updates. If unsure about the time, visiting the Google Analytics account would determine the cause. Though there would be not straight descending line drop in traffic, it has been noted that there are one-thirds drop per fortnightly. If the website is enhanced with large number of manipulative links, the drop can be more severe.

The changing algorithms of Penguin is not about improving search quality, but punishing certain specific spams. One of the most popular focus lies on the anchor text “over-optimization.”

Most clients end up wondering as why were their websites penalized and those of their competitors spared. A line was drawn in the algorithmic sand and websites were scrutinized accordingly. An adaptable line, the websites, which were rendered safe, could even be judged.

Other Link Penalties by Google

Google often declares penalties and do not present any kind of information to the website owners. Each month Google updates its algorithms. On June 25 Panda would be updated to version 3.8 The procedure by which a webmaster can come to know if penalized, is by checking the distribution of anchor text.

Conclusion

Once penalized, it is important to reconsider the situation and act methodically to eradicate the issue. One thing that should be clarified if rebuked, the owner should consider other websites, which has the relevant links. To accomplish a faster recovery, it is essential to remove the links from other company owned websites.

The second thing is it was found that Bing penalized the website as soon as Google rebuked the same. If penalty of Google was revised, Bing removed its penalty automatically. The actions were shared and Bing resolved it immediately. Bing and Yahoo control approximately 30 % of the search market.

Irina Mukherjee

As a Search Engine Optimization Specialist, it is important to recognize the target areas and act accordingly. With the evolving algorithms, it is essential to identify the problem areas and eliminate it.

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