Have you heard of the Google Penguin update?

The recent Google algorithm update which has potential to wreck website rankings.

To the layperson who has limited or no exposure to search engine optimisation and how Google works, this may sound both a little bizarre and perhaps quite worrying too. What has a “penguin” got to do with a dentist’s website search ranking and how can it be so bad as to wreck my Google positions?

These are two very valid questions, and with the latest iteration of the Google Penguin update just released (the last was well over a year ago), we thought it worthwhile to quickly recap on perhaps one of the most significant elements of Google search algorithm and the way it works to determine how your website fares in the ranking results.

What is the Penguin update and how does it work?

Firstly it’s perhaps important to explain that the Penguin update is not new. It was first introduced back in April 2012 and the effects of that are covered elsewhere in this blog. In a nutshell, it was introduced as an anti-spam measure, particularly to seek out those websites which had been using manipulative techniques such as mass link-building and exact-match anchor text to boost their Google positions. As we’ve covered previously, many dentists’ websites were hit really hard and pushed way back in the ranking results – quite a big blow to business for many of them.

The update has been run a few times since 2012 and more refined in the way it acts; but each time more websites which have been using promotional techniques outside of Google’s guidelines, have been caught out and penalised.

Before we move on the discuss how your own website may be at risk, it’s also worth noting that the Penguin updates to-date, have not been part of the core Google algorithm; more an add-on filter which is periodically invoked specifically to weed out offenders. However, it was announced that with the new update, that Penguin will actually become part of the core and run in real time.

Is your own website at risk?

If you have actively pursued SEO over the last few years, then there is a chance that you, or more likely your dental web marketers, have stepped outside of Google’s guidelines. Simply because you haven’t been caught before doesn’t mean you are safe unfortunately, as with each update, Google tends to get more punitive. “Unfair” I hear you shout, but it’s Google’s box-of-tricks and they do as they please with it – fail to comply and stand by for trouble.

So what doesn’t Google like and what sort of techniques can land your website in hot water? Let’s just cover what is known as “off-site” work for now.

• lots of low-quality links – If your web team has been doing this, then you could be in difficulty. Google wants people to link to your website naturally due to its quality and not simply because your web guy went and found lots of free-for-all links to point at it. Free links are often bad links and Google can tell; so too many of these from crappy websites and Google may push your website way back. Don’t risk this and be sure to insist that your web team only use good links.
• social bookmarks – there are still a few reasonable quality bookmarking sites but most are now poor quality and the links fall into the category above.
• blog networks – sometimes known as PBNs (private blog networks), marketing companies have set these up to try to create themed links for their clients’ websites. Google is gradually picking up on these and taking them down, but they are still used rather recklessly by some website companies with a dental marketing focus. Get caught doing this and it’s bad news.
• using micro sites – in a similar vein to blog networks, some companies set up micro-sites to feed links to the main website. If this is done well, i.e. each satellite site is high-quality in its own right, then the techniques can still work, but few put in the time to make this worthwhile and minimise the risk.
• linking between client’s websites – this may seem rather hard to believe but we have seen examples where companies have posted “hidden” articles in a client’s blog and then linked out to another client’s website. This is quite desperate and risks being caught by the customer (the links show in Google) as well as by Google themselves.

How do I know?

This is a tricky one as you likely don’t have the tools needed to track your back-link profile as would a marketing agency. However, if you’d like some free assistance to audit your link profile please call Dental Media on 01332 672548 for help.

What can I do to minimise the risk?

To be frank, if you already have a questionable back-link profile with your website, it may be too late to do anything about it with the Penguin update now live. All you can do is attempt to remove any links which look like they fall into the “risk” category or better still, ask someone who has the website expertise to act on your behalf. Then ensure that your link profile is audited regularly ongoing, to ensure that your SEO team is acting appropriately. Falling foul of a Google update is really bad news and can take many, many months to recover from. So please don’t be caught out like the hundreds of dentists were in 2012 when Penguin first showed up. Given that the latest version of the update is supposed to work in real-time, i.e. not run occasionally, the good news is that if you have bad links and clean them up, then theoretically you should recover more quickly.

Need some experienced help?

The chances are that you may be worried about Google updates but have no time or the required experience to do anything about it? Here at Dental Media we have many years of search expertise in-house and have cleaned up a number of websites where new clients have come to us already with Google penalty issues. So if you need help, simply call us on 01332 672548 for guidance.