Since Google unleashed the Penguin update last spring, publishers with less-than-perfect link profiles have felt the sting as their online content sunk to the bottom of SERPs. In a slew of news updates from Google’s I/O 2013, the search engine’s Head of Webspam Matt Cutts announced the company recently took legal action against an array of spammy linksellers.
“It’s safe to assume webspam will continue to tackle link networks that violate our guidelines as well,” Cutts wrote in a Tweet. He followed up by saying that “We took action on several thousand linksellers in a paid-link-that-passes-PageRank network earlier today.”
Brafton recently reported that a game-changing algorithm update is in the cards for 2013, but Google hasn’t firmed up a timeline. Regardless of when changes go into effect, marketers would be wise to evaluate their link profiles to avoid any potential consequences of black hat SEO practices.
Cutts says the best way to earn top positions in SERPs is to create excellent experiences for internet users. Sites that publish compelling content that people want to read and share will rise to the first page, while brands that let their website content go stale won’t get as much visibility from Google.
