Did Your Website Get Hit With the Penguin Penalty?

Published on
November 5, 2014
Contributors
Megan Malone
megan@vicimediainc.com

Megan Malone is a Founding Partner with Vici, and leads our Operations division.  Megan has both a radio and digital marketing background working for the Philadelphia Eagles, Beasley Broadcast Group, and Cox Media Group. In her career she has helped plan and implement thousands of digital media campaigns.   She holds a certification from Disney Institute’s People Management, Google Analytics, and was awarded the top 10 advertisers in Louisville from the American Advertisers Federation.  In her free time Megan is relaxing in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband Dave and toddler Zoey.

Subscribe to our newsletter
Read about our privacy policy.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Take a peak at your Google Analytics. If you are seeing your website traffic is at an ALL time low in the past month you may have been struck by the Penguin, or Googles’ third update to its algorithm. Colloquially known as Penguin 3.0, this update launched on October 17th (according to Google Webmaster Hangouts) and has caused many websites to lose a majority of its traffic! But why did this happen



penguin SEO

The purpose of this update is to penalize websites using black hat Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques, such as poor link sources and automated link building to scam networks. The penalizing causes lower rankings, while websites with a healthy link portfolio and other good SEO practices are brought higher on search engine ranks. A healthy link portfolio can consist of links from major editorial websites (e.g. CNN, local blogs posts, directories) that provide a hyperlink pointing to your website. This tells Google search bots, that you're a reputable source, allowing your website to rank higher on search engines

This update may affect your website even if you’re simply running paid ads through Google, such as product listed ads. Anyhindrance on a websites reputation and relevancy on key search terms could increase costs for keywords that were otherwise cheap for your website. Take a look at the websites’ organic traffic andconversiontraffic to see if it’s affected. Then, triple check your website with this free penguin penalty tool http://reconsideration.org/.

Related Posts

Tips, guides, industry best practices, and news.
Category Link
YouTube+: The Branding and Awareness Machine
In today’s digital landscape, attention is everything and YouTube is where that attention lives. With billions of users, laser-sharp targeting, flexible budgets, and measurable performance, advertising on YouTube isn’t just a trend it’s a strategic advantage.
Dan Charon
June 25, 2025
Category Link
From Pitch to Performance: Selling Smarter with Digital Media
The best digital salespeople aren’t just selling—they’re guiding. With the right materials, mindset and momentum, your pitch becomes a performance your client won’t forget.
Tracey Geary
June 9, 2025
Category Link
Are You Missing Out on the Marketing Power of the Theatre of the Mind? Online Audio!
Online Audio is a great tool to enhance a digital campaign and falls within the branding and awareness part of the sales funnel. Audio reaches consumers while they're engaging in other things like commuting, working out, or cooking...
Katie Pray
June 3, 2025