Quality-based SEO firms, like Phoenix Synergy for example, have been working for the past few years to ensure that their clients have a well-rounded SEO strategy by slaving away getting quality links, relevant content, large social media following, etc. Until now, some efforts were futile, resulting in thousands of hours equaling nothing.

Penguin, the Google algorithm update originally released in April of this year, has been the best gift Google could give to not only SEO firms but to companies as well. No longer will SEO be deemed a money pit and no longer will thousands of hours be fruitless. Since the original release, Google has updated the algorithm to add a few extra perks; one example is when having SEO strategies that are more of a “spam” like quality, the exact opposite of the intention will occur.

As illustrated in the image, all the elements have stayed the same, but now a different game plan must be used to achieve real results.

• Volume: the number of links to your site. Before Penguin, if you had a million and one link you would probably be ranked number one. Fortunately, now, that is no longer true and instead, the amount of links has to be naturally spread throughout relative content, your important links with broad anchor text, and daily usage of social media without any of these seeming fabricated.
• Links: self-explanatory; nearly the same as volume except for one enormous change. If your company had 500 links with the anchor text as the keyword that you’re trying to rank highly with, your company would no doubt have fallen off the map after Penguin. For example, if your keyword was “AC Repair”, you would need links evenly distributed between not just “juice machine”, but many other terms that were relevant to your site, like “space cooling”, “space heating”, “air conditioning equipment”, etc.
• Content: the material your blogs and website are filled with; usually relevant however many companies mistakenly copy and paste random articles that have nothing to do with their brand or product. We’ll use “AC Repair” as an example again; write meaningful articles and blog posts on different aspects of heating and cooling for homes or industries. Anything that is relevant to your brand or product and your visitors would feel is useful.
• Sharing: the use of social media. Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, or any of these social media companies can be and should be used to your advantage. Daily use also lets Google know that you’re still in business.
• Structure: search engine optimization of your company’s website.  This hasn’t changed, but they are still extremely important, ensure your sitemaps, internal linking, and title tags are there and working properly.