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With the Google Penguin update wreaking havoc on webmasters, and links being one of the biggest problem areas for most, here is what SEOs are looking at when they are evaluating your links in light of the Penguin update. Please note, there is a little guesswork in how much each type of linking offense will incur a penalty – Google simply will not divulge that information. What SEOs can dow however is a more comprehensive link analysis than used to be required to try to pinpoint the source of any Penguin related link penalties you may be dealing with.

– Link stuffing, or the practice of pushing out tons of very low value even irrelevant, links which all point back to one specific page. Sites that have an abnormally high ratio of links all pointing to one page will almost assuredly get tagged for spamming links.

– Link Farming, technically called topological spamming, is the practice of getting piles of links to your site from websites that Google has already pegged as a “bad site.” Typically these are sites that do nothing but host links, but they could be content mills hosting hundreds of thousands of pieces of low quality content that have links stuffed in piece.

– Nepotistic linking which means that all of your links are paid links or the product of reciprocal link exchanges without anything organic will be penalized.

– TrustRank matters – Google will look at where your links come from. Are they from quality sites – and are you also linking to quality sites? Being in a good neighborhood matters.

– Link lifecycle is where most sites fail. Links generally have a lifespan. Some will be hardy, but other will decay. Google will look at your historical data concerning link acquisition to make sure it is within norms and not a cycle of a thousand links suddenly appearing every 30 days. If it doesn’t look organic, it won’t pass muster.

By knowing a little bit about what Google is looking at, you can stay in good graces. Be reasonable about link building using methods like the link wheel which have survived Penguin. Be careful of link exchanges and keep good neighbors. If you avoid the above taboo practices you will do just fine.

SEOs have been awaiting news on the Google Penguin update to roll out which might point webmasters in the right direction regarding how to address any site penalties they may have suffered. The biggest problem seems to be in relation to backlinks which Google bot has been identifying as spam. The other problem is related to the number of backlinks a site has. Obviously, there are some errors being made early on and not all sites are being treated equally under the new system. It’s all created quite a mess.

A number of .gov and ,edu sites have not apparently been impacted by a large number of backlinks in the same manner privately held sites have. That alone has raised a number of questions since they undoubtedly have numerous backlinks which on other sites would be tagged as spam under the same circumstances. Further, there has been a large problem with webmasters being unable to remove backlinks that are causing their penalty because of uncooperative webmasters hosting them.

Currently, all anyone can do is request poor backlinks be removed or petition Google for reevaluation. Google seems to be horrendously backlogged with such requests and is rumored to be giving first views to those providing a report of removal requests they have made and the action taken upon those. There was hope Google was going to announce a different process for this, but so far they have remained quiet on the topic and SEOs are just having to wait a little longer yet again.

In SEO news, Google is being hounded for some concrete information regarding the penguin update, but has to this point maintained their usual standoffish posture toward sharing information. Some big names in the SEO world have begun telling Google that enough is enough and that Google should be more helpful in providing SEOs and the public in general with a little more guidance as to what it is that they frown upon and favor. While this is far from the first time the SEO community has made such requests from Google, none faring well, with Bing becoming a bigger player much faster than anyone expected, Google may want to rethink their stance.

Google has always maintained that providing too much information would only lead to gaming the system and lead to more changes. On the other hand, black hat SEOs always find a way to game the system eventually and in the meantime white hat SEOs and regular users find themselves being punished for the sins of others. Updates to improve relevance are always welcome, but cryptic updates that seem to have other motives are growing tiresome.

Far too many SEOs have pointed out that Google algorithm changes seem to be primarily aimed at raising the search ranking of Google products and not all relevant web content as a whole. Whether that is wholly accurate or not, there is some evidence to that end. Whether Google continues to do evil or starts working with the people that make Google the force it is will be watched closely, but no one is holding their breath on help from Google.