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27 Sep 2016
penguin 4.0 google update

Google Penguin 4.0: Everything You Need to Know

Almost two years after their last update, Google has officially announced the Penguin 4.0 release slated to be the final upgrade in this series. They’re classifying this upgrade as becoming a part of their “core algorithm” and are pointing directly to its real-time operation as a part of a long overdue update to this final part of the Penguin process.

Specifically when speaking about the importance of this newer real-time operation, Google is recalling past implications when sites were affected by Penguin which were only updated when new updates were released.  With the release of 4.0, webmasters will now see their changes happen as Google spiders their website, and can see the results of their link cleanup work much sooner.  .

A Loose Definition of Attributes

With Google Penguin 4.0, webmasters can count on:

  • It’s availability in all countries and languages worldwide
  • Penguin 4.0 is promising to be more flexible than it has been in the past
  • The real-time operation being compared to earlier Panda releases
  • No announcements will be made from Google regarding those impacted
  • Google will no longer be commenting on data refreshes
  • SEOs may still be able to catch up on future refreshes and other data using other practices

Since Penguin 4.0 is now part of the core algorithm, as mentioned previously, this is the primary reason why there won’t be any updates or future communications from Google.

De-Coding The Granular Update

Google is entitling this update as being more “granular,” and by their own definition on this topic, “Penguin now devalues spam by adjusting ranking based on spam signals, rather than affecting ranking of the whole site.” This reference that Google is making is aimed at changes made per page, rather than on the website itself as a whole.

Reports of Changes

SEO experts, like Dr. Peter J. Meyers are concerned about seeing how Penguin will affect web professionals, their clients and SEO in general when it comes to the impact and recovery Google’s Penguin 4.0 could affect in the near future. Meyer believes it will be a matter of weeks or even months before we can fully begin to understand the effects from this type of update. :

penguin 4.0 google update

COGNITIVE SEO: http://cognitiveseo.com/blog/10409/google-penguin-4-0-released/

MOZ: https://moz.com/blog/penguin-4-was-it-worth-the-wait

PATRICK COOMBE: http://www.elite-strategies.com/major-google-update-penguin-4-0/.

SEARCH ENGINE LAND: http://searchengineland.com/google-updates-penguin-says-now-real-time-part-core-algorithm-259302.

SEM POST:  http://www.thesempost.com/google-launches-real-time-penguin-40/

SEO BOOK: http://www.seobook.com/penguin-40-update

SER (Round Table): https://www.seroundtable.com/google-penguin-4-live-22737.html

Some of these sources (like Moz) are calling this update “well worth the wait,” while others are more condescending, apprehensive and still waiting for data that won’t come until much later this year or beyond.  

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Search engine marketing expert with 15 years of experience in the industry, working with small mom and pop shops as well as large corporate websites. I have experience with all aspects of inbound marketing, including SEO, Link Building, Social Shares, Usability, Conversions, PPC, Email Marketing, and more.