Google Penguin is a search algorithm update that Google first released in April 2012. The update was designed to target websites engaging in manipulative link-building techniques, such as buying links or participating in link schemes, to boost their search engine rankings artificially.
Penguin works by analyzing the backlinks pointing to a website and penalizing sites with many low-quality, spammy, or manipulative links. Websites that were penalized by Penguin would typically see a significant drop in their search engine rankings as a result.
Penguin is a “real-time” algorithm, which means the algorithm is continuously running, and updates are rolled out periodically. In 2016 Google introduced a new version of Penguin that runs in real-time, which means that changes to a site’s backlink profile are processed immediately rather than waiting for the next update.
The Penguin algorithm aims to help ensure that the search results are more relevant and trustworthy for users by penalizing sites trying to manipulate their rankings through manipulative link-building techniques. Websites that Penguin hit can recover by cleaning up their backlink profile and removing any low-quality or manipulative links.
Penguin is a part of Google’s core algorithm and is designed to run in real-time, so if you clean up your backlink profile, you can see the impact immediately.
Also, See: Google Hummingbird