If you are like countless other webmasters, you were probably horrified to discover that your site’s search engine position was decimated following the latest update of Google’s Penguin algorithm. While some sites actually did perform better after the update, the vast majority of comments around the internet seem to indicate that the update had a negative impact on their sites – and their bottom line. After a few weeks of experimenting, webmasters are beginning to realize how to recover from this and we will be sharing a few tips with you in this article to help you begin resolving your search engine issues post-Penguin update.

Eliminating Backlinks

The latest update of Penguin has become far more sophisticated at judging quality, organic backlinks from paid backlinks or those that are spammed on questionable websites. Simply put, your backlink profile is more important than ever, and thinning the ranks when it comes to low-quality backlinks should be on the top of your to-do list. While this may seem counterproductive to what has been considered the “norm”, some webmasters are reporting that by going back and removing backlinks placed in comments sections on other sites, their website is responding positively once again.

Building New Backlinks

Some people impacted by the Penguin update may be facing the opposite problem as mentioned in the above paragraph. Some sites have been able to skid by on just a few reputable backlinks – namely sites that have operated in rather niche categories. With a complete refocusing of Google’s algorithms, smaller sites with matching backlink profiles are being increasingly neglected and pushed further and further back in search results. There is still opportunity to gain quality backlinks through other sites’ interactive features, but be sure to avoid the low-quality sites out there with little in terms of traffic and content.

Give Your Site A Facelift

Many sites on the internet are not optimized when it comes to title tags, meta descriptions, navigation or product details. While some may feel this to be below their problems, having an outdated website that utilizes previous forms of search engine optimization may no longer cut it. Search engine crawlers increasingly rely on the most minute and seemingly trivial information about your site in order to distinguish it and rank it accordingly against competitors. To aid you in your revisions, consider adopting a new, optimized content management system to re-deploy your site for competition in the modern day.

Track Your Progress

As you make subtle (and perhaps not so subtle) changes to your website, you will want to keep an eye on it to see how well you are improving post-Penguin update. Pingler offers a tool that helps you instantly determine where your site falls in regards to a specific search phrase. By using Pingler’s Search Engine Position Checker, you will be able to fetch up-to-date results of how well your search engine position is doing for any given site – in any keyword or phrase – and can monitor the overall improvement of your site in the coming weeks and months. Regardless of circumstance, you can rebuild your web presence post-Penguin update through just a few simple changes in how you operate online.