Google announced a major algorithmic update that primarily focuses on links recently. The new Google link algorithm, just like the previous updates, is very important to webmasters and search marketers because it can help explain the latest changes in rankings and organic website traffic.

Knowing and understanding the new Google link algorithm allows you to identify the adjustments you need to apply to your search engine optimization practices to be able to stay away from penalty and keep up with the competition.

Basically, the Unnatural Link update of March 2012 is the biggest update so far compared to the previous huge updates such as Vince in 2009, Florida in 2003 and Panda in 2011. The previous updates focused more on certain types of websites, the Unnatural Link update on the other hand is all about penalizing websites purely based on the link strategy.

As expected, it has caused huge problems for the sites that are affected. Over 700, 000 websites have received a message from Google or popularly known as the Unnatural Link Notice.

Branded3.Com, a Digital and SEO Agency in the UK, analyzed over 50 reputable websites who have been hit by Google’s latest update. In the course of their study, they have observed the following:

• Once you receive the Unnatural Link Notice in your Webmaster Tools account, a penalty will arrive within weeks
• Branded3.Com noticed some instances where violators received the penalty exactly 21 days after they get the link notice
• In most cases, the penalty is phrased based. This means that sites lose rankings for all keywords related to the ones used in the anchor text of the links Google considers as being “unnatural”
• The Unnatural Link penalty is observed too sharp to be purely link devaluation. Most of the cases show that the landing pages being hit fall lower than they would rank with no links at all.
• Penalty for the worst offenders can be sitewide

Today, Google is asking people to clean up unnatural links. One of the best ways is to contact the person who placed the links to get them removed. If not possible, you can manually email the sites and request for links removal. Removing bad links is a tough job that everybody must follow to be able to maintain and improve site rankings.

The Northern Office – Innovative Marketing helps you by staying up to date to Google updates. This gives you clues on how to improve your rankings and maintain high online visibility. If you need help or advice on search engine marketing issues, please get in touch with us. TNO is an independent marketing consultancy firm based in the Philippines with clients based in Europe, America and Asia. Call us at (045) 499-1082 today or visit our website www.thenorthernoffice.com.

source: www.branded3.com