Google Penguin Update / Over Optimization Penalty, April 24th launch for real estate

[webmaster]

That was always the argument / logic we SEO's used when faced with that question in the past - "what if Google starts penalizing for links" - we would say - Google would NEVER do that, if they did, people would start sabotaging each other etc" - guess what, Google IS penalizing for links (and link strategy) - I think (they think) they have figured out what is clearly spam (to them) and what isn't (or might be intent to fake it). Google has some very interesting tools at their disposal for evaluating link behavior so I don't think a simple (that would be unfair, someone did it to me) is an arguement to them any longer.

Hey Morgan, I know you know I did not pay for them - never got into the paid link thing because I was too "frugal." But wouldn't a change in the algorithm that way as a penalty open the door up for swamping your competitors with "unnatural" links to get them penalized?

[JMcLane]

It would be great if you could do some homework and put out a simple explanation on the best way to resolve this goggle issue. The drop I have seen is tremendous.

[sffisher]

Here is a solid write-up on the subject as well from Search Engine Watch.

[Agnafl]

Its so bad that it makes me laugh (so I don't cry). There are years,yyeeaarrss, of different practices and techniques that we have all followed to some degree or another in an effort to get our sites ranking well. Some of us have tons of pages and even more links. The last report I ran as of this morning has me with over 25,000 backlinks from over 1,500 referring domains. Not a ton, but not to shabby either. Really haven't paid much attention to the site in the last 16 months. It has developed a life of its own and held the spots I wanted in the SERPs for even longer.

While looking at the report this morning I have found countless sites that are linking to me multiple times from different pages (not sitewide but close) that I did not initiate. Hell, one of them now shows that the whole site is suspended for god knows what?! Then there are several that have broken anchor text or blank anchor text?? All the articles coming out now refer to checking all your links. Really? 25,000 links! Google has lost their freakin mind! Anyone that has been doing this for more than 5 years on the same domain likely has a bunch of links with exact anchor text as the keywords/phrases. Now it is apparent that that practice has really screwed alot of people. It is one thing to devalue something but this is gone way beyond that. Will be interesting to see what the next few weeks hold.....

[Micheal Pannell Realtor]

I feel you. Like you i have a lot of links i cant get removed So what i am going to do is create new links with vaied anchor text and see if this doesn't correct the problem

[CLTMichael]

Good post Morgan

[satxproperty]

Is this Penguin update, google's way of telling us that they no longer approve of any type of created, manipulated or purposefully sought after-acquired links?

[Justin Havre]

Here is a good post over at SEOMOZ that some of you might find useful. They also mention that forum links may look spammy to G and that it might be a good idea to clean them up to be more brand oriented.

[Calgary Agent]

Just finished our first post penguin SEO meeting. .....
The obvious ones are the "site wide" links in footers, or sidebars that appear to be clearly purchased (even if they aren't Google will think they are) - here is one such example: toptenrealestatedeals.com/homes/top-ten-home-deals/nv/las_vegas/diann3/2/ - what do you think Google is going to think about those links in the footer? Most def spam. Ok the footer links are most def spam, but what about the primary bio link top left? Well because it's sitewide, and anchor text, likely still spam - but if it does truly have value / drive traffic instead of having it removed, ask the webmaster to add a rel="nofollow" to it, and you don't loose the traffic benefit / exposure.

Indeed, I agree that site wide links in footers are now considered spammy by Google. I'm sure they're being addressed by Google, with both the originating & the target domain suffering. Which brings me to the followed REW links many of us have on our sites. Does REW plan to either remove or add nofollows to these links?

[Justin Havre]

I think a big question we also need to ask here is if people will get penalized for link bait programs. I will presume that if they are done right and natural without spammy anchor texts we "should" be ok.....then again, who the GOOGLE (the new F word) knows.