70% Said Google's Penguin 2.1 Update Hurt them

About six-months ago, Google unleashed a major update to Penguin, the Penguin 2.1 update.

The earlier feedback from that update was that is was a big impact to webmasters and mostly SEOs who used links in an aggressive manner.

So I posted a poll asking you how you did with the update. Being that six-months later there has been no reports of a new Penguin refresh or update, I figured I post the poll results today.

We had over 2,800 responses to the poll, and 70% said they saw a drop in Google referrer traffic after the update. So 70% seemed to have been negatively impacted by it. While only 7%, or just about 200 people, reported their sites recovered from a previous Penguin update with Penguin 2.1. 6% said they saw an increase in traffic, where one site goes down, another benefits. And 17% said they saw no change at all before or after.

Here is the pie chart:

Again, we are still waiting for a Penguin refresh for over six-months. I think we are due one soon.

Only 13% Claim Google's Disavow Tool Worked For Them

We ran a poll late last year asking did Google's disavow link tool work for you or not?

As you know, the Google Disavow Tool launched in October of 2012. Since then webmasters and SEOs have been obsessed with it and using it all the time.

But does it work? Does it help you improve your rankings and remove penalties? Well, I know for a fact it does help remove penalties, but does that lead to better rankings always? Not always.

We polled our audience and with 670+ responses and only 13% of those said using this tool worked for them. 37% said they are not sure if it worked or not and 50% said they are confident it had no impact.

Here is the pie chart:

Disclaimer: Please see my poll disclaimer post before coming to any conclusions on these results.

Forum discussion continued at Black Hat World.

Google: 410s Are Immediate & 404s Are Delayed For 24 Hours

We always knew 410s were more immediate and I thought they were also more permanent but I didn't know 410s worked immediately.

In a video released by Google's Matt Cutts yesterday, he described the technical difference between a typical 404/4xx code and the 410.

410s GoogleBot will mark as gone immediately upon discovering it.

404s or other 4xx GoogleBot will "protect" for 24 hours, try again, before marking it as not found.

In both cases, Google says they will retry the 404s and 410s in the future. Just in case there was server or coding issues on the site. But with 410s, they get marked as gone right away.

65% Prefer Google Manual Actions Over Algorithmic Demotions

A while back, we polled our audience asking if they prefer manual or algorithmic penalties by Google - that is, if you had to pick one or the other.

Imagine Matt Cutts coming over to you and saying, you're a bad boy. You deserve a penalty but I'll let you pick, you can have an algorithmic demotion or a manual action. Which would you pick?

I explain in detail the different between the two over here and the response was that 65% prefer a manual action, whereas 35% said they prefer an algorithmic demotion.

We had over 300 responses to the thread. Disclaimer: Please see my poll disclaimer post before coming to any conclusions on these results.

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

A Complete Guide To The Essentials Of Post-Hummingbird SEO

Google has made stark changes over the past couple years in the way it ranks websites. When one of its most recent algorithm incarnations, Hummingbird, was released in August of 2013, it created a whirlwind in the search landscape and has since continued to have far reaching impact.

In its wake, businesses have been forced to modify their web marketing strategies and SEO efforts to regain favor with Google to reclaim their former search rankings.

Read on for the insights we’ve gained and what you need to do to thrive in this new environment.

What We’ve Learned So Far

In keeping pace with the evolution of Google’s search algorithms, reviewing our clients’ sites, and implementing strategies to sync the two, we have gained some valuable first-hand insights.
Our SEO program prioritizes the auditing of our current clients’ sites to gain a clear, up-to-date view of what is and is not working and where we need to focus our efforts to achieve ongoing success in the ever-changing digital world.
Our post-Hummingbird launch audits have shown a range of results. Some clients’ search rankings immediately improved because their competitors’ rankings dropped from failing to cooperate with Google’s changes. In other cases, we saw our clients’ rankings maintain or rise as a result of prior efforts to build their organic search results.
Though a few of our clients’ rankings slipped slightly, none have been severely affected thus far – likely because our SEO efforts were already on the same trajectory as Google. For those clients that experienced minor dips, our audits have shown us where and how to make the necessary adjustments to get them back on track.