According to recent research, Google is increasing the number of websites punished for manipulation of external links used to increase page ranking. As the basis of the study, Portent looked at thousands of incoming links for 50 websites. The company measured various effects of the links, including the results they had on search listings.
The Penguin algorithm was introduced by Google in April 2012 to detect and punish sites which had used links dubiously to increase visibility in search listings. As a result, the page ranking of millions of websites dropped, causing the companies to become less prominent on the search listings. The study which was carried out and produced by Portent, an internet marketing company, indicates that the number of links tolerated by Google which are deemed to have been manipulated has reduced drastically. Initially, around 80 per cent of the links to a website considered to be of dubious nature were permitted by Google before any action was taken. The number of such links tolerated by Google dropped to 65 per cent, before falling even further to 50 per cent at the end of last year.
However, any site that is employing an ethical search engine optimisation campaign should not have too much to worry about. Links play a major part in SEO; the careers of search specialists rely on them to an extent, and this latest research drives home the need to cultivate them in a natural fashion as opposed to using methods frowned upon by Google.
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