Link Strategies After Google's Penguin Update

We have all read about it, we have speculated over it, we feared it and we tried to shrugged it off. So what is really going on with the Penguin update from Google?

Simply put, it is the attempt to stop people from fixing the game by buying 100's or 1000's of links with sharply targeted keywords into your site. Why? Simply put, this is not natural, or organic. Sites don't normally get exact anchor text linking into their site, so Google looks at this as people buying these links to manipulate their rankings.

What we have now is people looking to work around this update to keep their site ranking high. Now, if you have followed SEO best practices all along, you won't be penalized for this update. So let's cover some of these best practices:

•          Link Diversity: 

                ○  Every link to your site should not be using exact anchor text. 

                ○  Every link to your site should not be purchased or from directories. 

                ○  Every link to your site should not be flowing to your home page, but rather, build links into deep pages also.

•          Anchor Text Diversity:
  

                ○ Every anchor text should not be the same exact keyword phrase. Diamond Engagement Rings can become Diamond Rings, Diamond Engagement, Diamond, Engagement Rings, Rings, Site Name, Rings of Diamonds, Rings for Engagement, use the types of rings or the setting type or cut, tear drop engagement rings, tear drop diamonds, Geo target with World Wide Diamonds, or Dallas Engagement Rings.
                ○ 25% should be exact anchor to what your researched that people are searching for.
                ○ 25% should be reverse order anchor. Using the same keywords, but mixing it up in the phrase
                ○ 40% should be generic. Site name, diamond cut, etc.
                ○ 10% dumb links. Visit site, view now, read more.

• Let the Page tell the Story: The page that the anchor text is linking to should tell the story. Your title and keyword usage should be targeted to the keywords people are searching. This is very important as the page content is what you can change when people's search habits change. You can change the title and page copy, but you can't go back and change all the anchors coming in. Or at least it would be very time consuming. 

• Juice is King: Although anchor text is important, and you should exact target some terms, remember, the juice is what you want. I will take juice with bad anchor text over no juice with exact anchor text any day. Give me the juice, and I will optimize the landing page for the terms I want.

Remember to build links into deep pages. This will help diversify your overall site's anchor profile. Try to pick sites such as HotvsNot.com to build your exact anchor, as more juice is going to flow from a stronger directory, and then for the weak directories, use weak anchor. If you are buying all your links until your content ranks enough to gain links organically, then build some anchors that are seem natural like view site, read more, view now, and others that would be gained organically.

The percentages above are not hard, engraved in stone, percentages, and you can go higher on more exact when you start, and over the months move to more generic.

I find these timeless best practices to protect from most all of Google's updates. Be smart and adapt gently over time. Remember, you are not racing to the top, but rather, building a foundation to stay on top.