Google Penguin

Google Penguin is a code name for a Google algorithm update that was first announced on April 24, 2012. The update is aimed at decreasing search engine rankings of websites that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines by using black-hat SEO techniques such as keyword stuffing, cloaking, participating in link schemes, deliberate creation of duplicate content, and others.

Naming the algorithm update

Penguin update went live on April 24, 2012. However, Google had not come up with an official name for it until two days later. Search Engine Land, a popular online magazine that covers search news, asked their readers to provide suggestions on how to name the new algorithm change on Google+ and Facebook.Among the popular suggestion were "Pi", "OOPs", "Shark Update" and "Titanic" (the absolute leader).

Penguin’s effect on Google search results

By Google’s estimates, Penguin affects approximately 3.1% of search queries in English, about 3% of queries in languages like German, Chinese, and Arabic, and an even bigger percentage of them in "highly-spammed" languages. On May 25th, 2012, Google unveiled the latest Penguin update, called Penguin 1.1, this Penguin update, according to Matt Cutts, is supposed to impact less than one-tenth of a percent of English searches.

The differences between Penguin and previous updates

Before Penguin, Google released a series of algorithm updates called Panda that first appeared in February 2011. Panda aimed at downranking websites that provided poor user experience. To identify such websites, a machine-learning algorithm by Navneet Panda was used, hence the name. The algorithm follows the logic by which Google’s human quality raters determine a website’s quality. In January 2012, so-called page layout algorithm update was released, which targeted websites with little content above the fold. The strategic goal that Panda, Penguin and page layout update share is to display higher quality websites at the top of Google’s search results. However, sites that got downranked as the result of these updates have different sets of characteristics.The main target of Google Penguin update is to check webspam.

Google’s Penguin feedback form

Two days after Penguin update was released, Google prepared a feedback form, designed for two categories of users: those who want to report web spam that still ranks highly after the search algorithm change, and those who think that their site got unfairly hit by the update. Google also has a reconsideration form through Google Webmaster Tools for the 700,000 sites who received an email stating their sites demonstrated unusual linking.

Google does not offer any support out side the forms and there have been no instances that Google is following up with those submitting the forms.