Getting out of Google's Penguin

[Xpeztumdk]

Hi all, my site www.uniggardin.dk has lost major rankings on the searchengine google.dk. Went from rank #2-3 on important keywords to my site, and after the latest update most of my rankings have jumped to #12 - #20.

This is so annoying, and I really have no idea what to do. Can it cause bad links to my site? In that case what will I have to do?

Thanks in advance,
Christoffer

[Chris.Menke]

Hey Anders,

There's a lot that would go into answering that question and it would probably be best to do a little leg work on your own to get an understanding of what's happened and the major steps you'll be be taking here in the near future.  Moz has a bunch of threads dealing with that topic and I'd browse through those to start with.

[jesse-landry]

The best possible thing you can do immediately is build relevant, quality content and gain organic links to said content from actual sites that your potential customers might be coming from. This will help you regain. I'm assuming you don't have any manual notices in GWT? Therefore this is easy enough. Your Domain Authority is low, you need more SEO work, and that starts with marketing.

But of course, as I always say, SEO IS marketing is SEO. I just launched me a blog where I rant about that for awhile, in fact. It even has a Finkle is Einhorn video, but I digress.

[DennisSeymour]

Hi

thats a pretty small drop. Not really penalty worthy. Build better links and drive more traffic. Plus, the algorithm is still changing now, so you will see changes within the next few weeks. Start building the good links now.

[Jantaro]

I can clearly understand your frustration. Since you're running a shop selling curtains, getting good backlinks is not the easiest thing to do. Google does now allow you to pay for backlinks, and I doubt there are that many Danish sites out there specializing in curtains. The thinking goes that if lots of relevant sites link back to you, your ranking will improve as Google will think you have an important curtain site.

Try to see what the people currently ranking for "your keywords" are doing. Run a backlink report on them and check their backlinks. Building a high quality website is not enough, you have to know what pleases the Google algorithm at any given point in time. Perhaps you could try sending Matt Cutts some nice curtains for his house. Do you have penguin patterned curtains?

[Jantaro]

By the way, is this your Facebook page? https://www.facebook.com/pages/Uniggardin/152428571610

You seem to have over 2000 likes, but the Facebook like widget in the footer only shows 131. You should also set your page name: https://www.facebook.com/help/271607792873806

I don't think Facebook takes Facebook likes into account (we have over 1.6 million likes, and it does nothing for our SEO ranking), but it's definitely worth fixing.

[toddmumford]

Hi Christoffer.

Start by taking a snapshot of your inbound links using a range of tools including Open Site Explorer.

Sort the links by the following:

1. Relevancy, on a scale of 1-10
2. Quality of site, on a scale of 1-10.

The prime candidates for removal are:

-Sites with low DA / metrics, low inbound links and low social metrics
-Sites with low quality overall, or sites in which the prime purpose appears to be advertising before providing good content to the consumer
-Sites that are completely irrelevant to your business.

Start with the worst offending links.

You will inevitably need to start emailing off to those webmasters in order to ask them to remove your link.

If in doubt, it's best to leave a link, or find a qualified consultant here at the Moz that can assist you in the analysis process.

Best of luck!

[whiteboardanimator]

Definately not a penalty, you would have known about it if you did have one. Normally I have found you are dropped about 10 pages when you get a Gslap (google penalty).

Just build some high DA (Domain Authority) links from some great social sites and you will be back on page one in no time

[Xpeztumdk]

If I havent got a Gslap (Google penalty) What would then be the reason for my big drops in the ranks after latest google update?

Is there a recipe to find those high DA domains and where I will be able to post my link?

Thanks

[whiteboardanimator]

It sounds to me more like the continuous link devaluation that Google is employing these days.

They will devalue links as and when they find anything seen as spammy. They then turn these links from dofollow to nofollow. When they update their algorithms this will change what is viewed as unnatural and then they will pick up on links that were not previously viewed as bad.

There will be no need for any actions other then to replace these links in order to regain your rankings.

A few high DA sites to get some links from could include Google plus + and Pinterest. Google plus lets any account post a few external links on the bottom right. Pinterest allows for a backlink when creating a verified business profile. Both easily done and both provide 100DA (domain authority) dofollow backlinks to your website

[whiteboardanimator]

or get your moz profile to 200 mozpoints and they will no follow a your profile link to your website.

[Xpeztumdk]

Ok so getting more quality links would be the way through?

Thanks

[whiteboardanimator]

Exactly, just replace the ones you have lost with better ones -your ranking will come back in no time

[whiteboardanimator]

you should connect on twitter and G+ via my profile page on here... in case you need more guidance