What was the Penguin update?

Back in 2012, we saw the start of the rollout for the Penguin update for Google’s algorithm that’s still a core part of how Google works today. The update targeted webspam – webspam is content that was created with the specific purpose of manipulating search engines to rank a site well. Almost instantly, the Penguin updates had a huge effect, actively combatting and penalising the very common malpractices of webmasters at the time. Come 2016, there had been 10 documented updates that refined and enhanced how this update worked that best-practice webmasters will have learnt lessons from as to work in favour of the algorithm.

Google core mission statement is to organise the worlds information in an accessible and useful manner, to achieve this Penguin avoids and thus penalises keyword stuffing, irrelevant linking, and thin content.