Member Avatar for thomasbruce

Please suggest me some tips and steps which should I take after hitting my website by Penguin 2.0 #4. I found some related information like remove bad links and directory links but I don’t think that can solve my problem properly so please suggest some more tactics.

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Dani AI

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Good start — is right that over-optimized link profiles are the trigger, and it’s good you’ve begun removal requests. Below is a compact, practical recovery checklist with steps and examples you can apply now.

  1. Run a link audit and triage. Export “Links to your site” from Search Console and pair it with one crawler (Ahrefs/Majestic/SEMrush) so you can sort by domain, anchor text, sitewide/footer footprints and date ranges. Prioritize domains that (a) link sitewide, (b) use exact‑match anchors, or (c) are clearly automated. Start outreach to the highest‑impact domains first and log every request (date, contact, response). (developers.google.com)

  2. Document removals and use Disavow as a last resort. Keep a spreadsheet plus screenshots/emails proving removal attempts — Google expects proof if you submit a reconsideration. Only disavow links you cannot reasonably remove yourself. The disavow tool requires a plain .txt file; a minimal example: 

# disavow examples
domain:spamdomain1.com
http://spamdomain2.com/bad-page.html

Google will ignore lines beginning with # and accepts domain: directives. Expect the disavow to take effect only after Google re‑crawls those pages. (developers.google.com)

  1. Check Search Console for manual actions and request review after fixes. If you see an “unnatural links” message, follow the Manual Actions report instructions: fix all affected pages, include evidence of removals/outreach in your reconsideration request, then submit and wait for review. Reviews can take weeks, especially for link cases. ()

  2. Clean up on‑site issues and rebuild trust. Remove or noindex thin/auto‑generated pages, remove obvious over‑optimization, and focus on useful content and natural, earned promotion. Historically Penguin 2.0 rolled out on May 22, 2013; since 2016 Penguin runs real‑time and is more granular, so cleaned profiles can recover faster once Google re‑crawls. (mattcutts.com)

If outreach + documented cleanup still leaves chronic problems, disavow carefully and submit a single, well‑documented reconsideration request. Patience and clear records are the two things that help recovery most. (searchenginejournal.com)

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Member Avatar for Dani

Penguin is a penalty for over-optimization. You get hit by Penguin when you have an unnatural looking backlink profile. From what I understand, everyone who has recovered from Penguin has done so primarily by getting rid of bad backlinks and directory links, and making their backlink profile look completely natural (lots of super organic social media type backlinks, no sitewide backlinks, etc). Also ensure that you are not using the same anchor text for all of your backlinks: it has to look completely natural.

Member Avatar for thomasbruce

Thanks Dani to provide me good info, i have already removed some bad links and i'm still working on it. I'm also requesting to remove autogenerated links of my posts by other sites.

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