What's A Google Penguin?

There is talk across the blogosphere about the ill effects of Google's latest Panda update called Penguin. Launched on April 27, Penguin plugged some holes in Google's algorithms (again) and it is now tougher to improve your search results(SERPs) using content farms. Just like they reduced the impact of link farms, Google is now reducing the impact on SERPs from sites that simply piled on SEO heavy articles. There are many websites crying foul and a few that saw their SERPs fall off a cliff. But the average site most likely never noticed the change, and that is how it should be. Content farms are churning out articles that are simply cover for keyword-stuffed strings of sentences. Of course they are not all like that, but the ones who were most affected by Penguin were. It should not have come as a surprise that Google would find a way to improve their results. It is what they do, and they do it dozens of times each year. Yes, optimizing your site for keywords is good, but keyword stuffing is just dumb. Your readers want to get good information, not sort through gibberish to find the point. There is no easy way out, no shortcut to the finish line. Marketing is a long, careful process of many variables clicking together in harmony. There is no quick fix that lasts very long and without a sound strategy behind it, no marketing tactic can succeed. All the wailing and gnashing of teeth about Penguin is, I think, scaring some folks. But the thing to remember is that if you are doing the right thing for the right reason and you aren't trying to find the Philosopher's Stone of SEO, then all will be well. Good content that is relevant to your customer base is the gold standard.