Google Penguin is changing the role of SEO

This is how I initially felt after seeing what Penguin did in the short term.

This is how I feel after

Never before have SEO been pushed to work within a companies overall marketing campaign than now. With unnatural link building being very easy to detect and penalties harsh & swift – there is an emphasis on now being able to leverage off line marketing for link building purposes which in turn increase rankings.

At the face of this situation, it is very easy to look at Google Penguin in a negative light (admittedly, I have too before I could reflect on the update), and while it is bug ridden and random in it’s intent, Google are pushing SEO consultants in an entirely different direction… but rightly so.

Instead of having to worry about client’s not being able to see our work, and struggling to communicate with them – post Penguin, the emphasis will be on working with them all the time in their own terms. We will need to evolve from code monkeys and switch to a traditional marketer mind set.

If you have no idea what traditional marketing is about, then I seriously suggest you reach out and find books & resources which can enable you to look at web content & sharing from a marketing perspective.

Use multiple thinking hats – what I would look at are…

• What demographics does this page target? Do the assigned keywords reach that demographic?
• Does the writing say enough in that article I just posted? Should I add an image with a call to action?
• Is that link I just made an extension of an offline partnership or honestly important to a user?
• Is there any video / audio / content established in an offline campaign that could be used for a page on my clients website?

Think differently whilst you do more actions than your competitors. Your online footprint matters more than now with regards to keeping hard earned rankings. Try your best from here on in to challenge the way you approach SEO.