SEO for PR: Google’s ‘Penguin’ update could affect your search results

It should not be confused with the recent “Knowledge Graph” changes PR Daily covered in March. Since the Penguin update, some brands may have seen changes in the way their articles or websites rank in Google, but for the most part, sites which adhere to Google’s SEO guidelines or quality guidelines should be safe from any serious changes to their organic search traffic and rankings.

In fact, the update could benefit websites practicing “white hat” search engine optimization (SEO) tactics (that’s in accordance with Google’s guidelines) by dropping sites that practice “black hat” or “spammy” SEO.

Why did Google make the update?

Google makes many updates to its ranking algorithm throughout the year to provide users the best organic search experience. Over the years, a lot of spam websites have emerged. They are designed to manipulate the algorithm to rank for high-volume searches.