The Post Penguin Philosophy

First the Panda, then the Penguin, now what will the next Google update animal be? Whatever the features of the upcoming Google update and no matter how harsh and stinging the after math left behind, there is one thing I am pretty sure about. All the Google updates will force us to revamp many conventions in the blogging, marketing and networking arenas. We bloggers, internet marketers and online entrepreneurs better gear up to the challenges.

Many of us bloggers have developed a defensive approach when it comes to evaluating the after math of Google updates. Majority of us are declaring that none of our blogs have been affected and we are quite happy to support Google in its web cleaning services. Oh, really?

Well, I have a very good reason for saying that almost all of us bloggers have been affected in some way or the other, because the last two updates (Panda and Penguin) have struck at some of the conventional blogging techniques that we all have been using since day one. What are these four blogging conventions that got struck by the Google Penguin update? 

1- Using Anchor Text

Remember how diligently we used to select our anchor texts and try to get them linked to vital pages on our blog? Well all that diligence has back fired now. Penguins probably like a roundabout way of using anchor texts for back links.

Using the exact words that match the focus keywords is something that the crazy Penguin hates. I am sure all of us have painstakingly done this while we were busy submitting our posts or comments to various other directories / sites.

 2- SEO

As beginner bloggers, we invested so much of time, effort and in some cases money as well to learn the tips, tricks and techniques of search engine optimization. We first learnt all about keywords, then we learnt how to find valuable / profitable keywords and finally learnt about the best way to use them to the right density and place them strategically within our blog content.

Now Google Penguin update wants us to unlearn everything that we meticulously learnt about SEO. Using keyword tools to shortlist the valuable keywords and optimizing posts based on them is a strict no-no for the weird Penguin. We bloggers now need to focus on creating valuable content that is related to the keywords but may not contain lot of mentions / repetitions of the same.

3- Guest Blogging

Guest blogging was and still is one of the few techniques remaining in the list of legitimate and Google approved back linking. We have been conventionally targeting sites and blogs with high PR and better rankings than our own sites and blogs for guest posting. But if your list of potential blogs to guest post is filled entirely with high PR blogs then you might have to re-consider the list now.

While Penguin does not devalue the links from guest posts on high PR blogs, it definitely looks with suspicion on blogs that are receiving ONLY high PR back links. Penguin loves fish and it sure can smell something fishy faster than the Panda who loves the greens.

So the latest guest blogging strategy to be adopted is to mix both high and low PR back links, but make sure that they come in only from relevant sources. You really do not want to be at the receiving end of Panda / Penguin’s ire by getting back links from blogs that are in a totally unrelated niche.

4- Comments

How desperate we were to see comments trickling in on our new blogs? Moreover, we were being advised and taught to encourage comments and respond to them in a very cordial and timely manner. Very few of us actually bothered to check the quality and reputation of these sites that were leaving links in our comment section.

Google Penguin update has penalized sites with spammy back links in comment section. This means you have to be vigilant about your visitors who come in via the comment door. No more hugging and giving a warm welcome to everyone who knocks.

Let us face the facts. Google updates are a lot like roller coasters. There is lot of excitement, ear piercing screams, some amount of vomiting, tears and definitely a lot of thrill and fun as well.

So how has the latest Google penguin update been treating your blog or site?