As Christmas approaches we start to think about gifts. Of course, the greatest Christmas gift is the birth of our Savior, but we also like to give gifts to each other. Sometimes it’s a tie or a sweater or perhaps an iPhone 6 (hint). Google decided to try their hand at gift giving this year. Google has a special update they would run priodically called, “Penguin”.
Kind of like Santa Claus, Penguin would gather up information about websites around the world and then would check its list of websites to see who’d been naughty and who’d been nice, specifically when it comes to links. Websites with a lot of naughty links (spammy links) would receive a giant piece of coal called a penalty. The nice websites got…well…nothing really. The best any website could hope for was to be taken off the naughty list.
Google usually gave us all the gift of not running any updates during the holiday season.
This year, however, Google decided to change their gift. Right between Thanksgiving and Christmas Google announced that they would start having Penguin updates continuously. The update would now constantly look for naughty websites throw coal at all year long. And we all just stand here feeling a bit like Clark W. Griswold expecting a Christmas bonus and getting enrolled in the Jelly of the Month Club. I can just hear Uncle Eddie saying, “Clark, that’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.” That it is Eddie. That it is.
Actually, though, if you do link building the natural way, these Penguin updates aren’t scary. In fact, I’ve come to look forward to them for OurChurch.Com and our SEO clients because it can mean some gains in the rankings if our competition has been getting spammy.
There are several other updates that have happened recently, including updates to Google’s local guidelines and is boosting mobile friendly websites, Bing changing their local results, and Facebook launching a new search feature. We’ll tell you all about these updates and how they will affect you in this month’s SEO Update Video. So, click play and watch and have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas ever!
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG_1MuPHDqw
(For the full video outline, click here.)
Tell Us What You Think:
- Do you use Facebook to search for things?
- Do you use the Internet on a mobile device? How important is it to you that a website is mobile friendly?
- What’s the worst gift you’ve been given for Christmas? 🙂
OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services
Kurt serves as OurChurch.Com’s Director of Marketing Services, bringing over 20 years of expertise in search marketing, and has developed numerous marketing services and served hundreds of churches, schools, ministries, and businesses.
He has authored more than 500 articles on the subject, contributing to platforms like the Christian SEO Guys blog and Church Marketing University, and is an active participant on LocalSearchForum.com.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Kurt is an ordained minister, serving as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL, demonstrating his commitment to both faith and community. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree from Georgia Southern University. He also holds a Specific Ministry Pastor Certificate and a General Pastor Certificate from Concordia Seminary.
1 Comment
good post.