Penguin Hit, Looking for some advice from Takeshi Young

[BobGW]

Hello,

Takeshi had the good idea to compare google analytic traffic data to penguin updates. We may have got hit by Penguin 2.0 (#4) on May 22, 2013. There's nothing in GWT indicating it though.

Most of our traffic is return customers, by the way.

I've attached a Google Analytic Screenshot.  It just happens to be the time when we removed a bunch of paid links. Will you look at this screenshot and make sure that it was Penguin, then give me some advice about

20 little blogs with keyword rich anchor text.

2 paid links that look editorial

1 sitewide paid link w/ keyword rich alt tag

1 more paid link that's an image near the footer on a single page, keyword rich anchor text.

1 paid link site with different types of links scattered across the site - 30 links total

We have 70 links total - the above 25 are paid.

penguin.gif

[TakeshiYoung]

Hi, it's possible. What do you mean by "It just happens to be the time when we removed a bunch of paid links"? When were the links removed in relation to the traffic drop?

I would take a deeper look into which pages caused the traffic drop. Look at the 30 day period before the drop and compare it to the 30 day period after the drop. Where is the majority of the traffic loss coming from? Which keywords? Penguin tends to impact the homepage or the specific keywords you are over optimizing.

In regards to paid links, Google has a very hard time detecting these unless you are being blatant about them, and you will typically receive a notice in GWT if you receive a penalty for it. Check to see if there are any manual penalties on your site in GWT. If not, chances are Google has not discovered that the links are paid (yet).

The main thing to watch out for with Penguin is low quality links (relative to your high quality links) and the anchor text of your links. With the latest updates, you want to keep your keyword anchor text below 25-30% of your total links. So if your ratio is higher than that, try to get that changed. And focus on building more links, because 70 is not a lot. The stronger your backlink profile is, the more resilient it is to spammy links.