{"id":14732,"date":"2013-07-15T07:00:27","date_gmt":"2013-07-15T12:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.adviceinteractivegroup.com\/?p=6073"},"modified":"2013-07-15T07:00:27","modified_gmt":"2013-07-15T12:00:27","slug":"has-penguin-2-hit-your-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.advicelocal.com\/blog\/has-penguin-2-hit-your-website\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Penguin 2 Hit Your Website"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"penguin<\/p>\n

Penguin 2.0 Penalty: The Basics<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s been a lot of talk about Penguin 2.0 penalties and bad backlinks. As a business owner with a website, you\u2019re probably wondering if your site has or will be hit with a Penguin penalty. Since you\u2019re here, there may be cause for concern. Let\u2019s help you find out.<\/p>\n

Drop in Traffic and Rankings<\/h2>\n

A drop in traffic and rankings around the end of May is a sign your site may have been penalized. This is when Penguin 2.0 hit the Google index. The rankings affected were most likely your target keywords.<\/p>\n

Cheap SEO Happens<\/h2>\n

Maybe your advertising budget is low and your competition is fierce. You\u2019ve heard of that SEO thing and knew you needed to do it, so you resorted to a cheap SEO service. This happens all the time.<\/p>\n

Cheap SEO services are just like cheap repairs, they don\u2019t last long. And similarly, it may have gotten you by for a while but it leaves you worse-off in the end. There\u2019s a reason it\u2019s cheap.<\/p>\n

Cheap search engine optimization is a yummy sardine in the eyes of Penguin.<\/p>\n

Your Backlink Profile<\/h2>\n

You may be a little more sophisticated and had your contractor or agency report on backlinks built. That will give you a better idea if your website was penalized by Penguin 2.0. When you\u2019re pouring over your spreadsheets, there\u2019s a few things you should look for:<\/p>\n