If you have a website then over the last 4 months you may have heard the word “Penguin” over and over again. The fact is that the algorithm which must not be named is not necessarily something to be feared, however it is something that you need to understand and respect.
SEO bloggers and tweeters usually post a great article once a week but since Penguin everything has slowed right down as people have tried to figure out what to do now. I literally read 80 articles last week that had been clogging up my Google Alerts Inbox, yet there are no pearls of wisdom to be found. And the Reason?
The new algorithm has slowed everything right down, so much so that people no longer know how to get fast results. As a result, SEO blogging has become very stale and repetitive, as there are very few tit-bits or quick-fixes to write about. And personally I think that is a good thing, at least it is in the long run.
SEO is no longer about these quick fixes, instead it is about lasting results and they are something that takes time to acquire. Any short-term underhand tactics may work for a week or two and they may produce the results your clients crave but after a fortnight the site is likely to drop, drop, drop like a lead weight.
What’s more these quick-fixes (that may have been undertaken when under pressure to produce results) are the type of tactics that are likely to have lasting yet negative effects. See the table below, which illustrates the impact of these negative tactics.
As you can see with the quick fixes (blue line) rankings do increase for the first few weeks, whilst the long term strategy (red line) has barely made any impact. Yet skip forward two weeks and we see quick fix rankings drop of the scale but the long term strategy is still gradually climbing. By the end of the campaign the rankings under the quick strategy are still being penalised and have not yet recovery and low and behold the long term strategy has achieved a top 5 position. See the average table below.
| Quick Fix Strategy | Long Term Strategy | |
| Average Ranking | 61 | 13 |
In the long term it is much better to use the long term strategy for the simple reason that it has lasting results and week on week the average ranking is much lower than when you try to cheat the system. So I leave you with this message: “Be Patient after Penguin“, do that and you will reap the rewards. It’s that simple.