Google’s search engine algorithm, dubbed Penguin, has made it even more challenging to wage successful search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns and achieve higher search engine rankings. According to Digital Journal, the online rankings of a number of websites took a big hit a mere 24 hours after Penguin 2.0, was launched. This was despite the fact that the objective of Penguin was to eliminate spam posts on Google’s search results pages with the intention of making Web browsing less tedious and more efficient.

Some business owners in Folsom may think this is irrelevant news, but the Penguin update goes to show that some of the old tricks in their marketing hat are no longer relevant or effective. For instance, websites may get penalized for posting irrelevant content or spam, as well as for having too many back links that lead to inactive or toxic sites. It thus pays to work with a Folsom SEO company that keeps tabs on the latest changes in this dynamic field.

For companies like Champion Online Marketing, such a quick turn of events doesn’t entirely come as a surprise, given that the Internet continues to evolve and change in relatively short periods of time. For instance, online forums became quite popular in 1998; and were eventually replaced by social networking sites barely 10 years after. Penguin was initially released in April 2012, underwent updates in May and October of that year, then ultimately evolved into Penguin 2.0 (or what Digital Journal refers to as Penguin 4) last May 2013.

Thanks to the Penguin updates, sites with unique and high-quality content now enjoy more favorable Google rankings as opposed to sites that get the most links or hits, yet ultimately offer fluffy content at best. SEO through social media is also important to some extent since search engines now also keep track of a website’s activity on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Companies that are lagging behind in terms of Internet marketing success are advised to review their current strategies and think of ways to reach their target consumers.

Some of the websites that were negatively affected by the switch to Penguin include online gaming, educational, and business sites, having lost as much as 50 percent of their visibility on the Internet at that time. Had these companies turned to a company like Champion Online Marketing that knows the intricacies of SEO in Folsom, they could have spared themselves a great deal of disappointment. In any case, businesses today would be wise to put great stock in both unique content creation and creative social media marketing to improve their search engine rankings, and thereby reach their target consumers in a more meaningful manner.

Subsequent Google algorithm updates may complicate the SEO playing field even further. Yet with the right SEO strategy, sudden changes in search engine algorithms should not be a cause for concern.