MOUNT LAUREL, NJ-- (MAY 7, 2012)-- Kenneth Wisnefski, founder and CEO of WebiMax, a leading search engine optimization firm, announced today that the company launched PenguinWatch.com, a Google search engine update resource center.

Google launched a major update to their search engine algorithm, titled the Penguin update on April 24th.  The Penguin update targets websites and businesses that Google has identified as over-optimized and penalizes them for trying to trick their search algorithm and increase rankings.  This update is predicted to impact 3% of all search queries.

“While 3% may not sound like a lot, the reality is that represents over 365,000 websites including those of small- to medium-sized businesses and even Fortune 100 companies,” states Wisnefski.  “WebiMax launched PenguinWatch as a full-scale resource center offering free website analysis, strategic recommendations, tips, news and updates.”

Google officially announced the Penguin update is one of over 500 annual updates to their search algorithm, however the problem is the amount of sites that were wrongfully flagged.  Last year when the company released their Panda Update, over 40% of websites were wrongfully penalized.

“Google’s recent efforts to reshape its results listings have come under fire within the SEO and webmaster community,” states Todd Bailey, Vice President of Marketing and Digital Strategy for WebiMax.  “This effort has been viewed as a harsh update with underlying intent under the protection of the company’s standard mantra of clearing out web-spam and providing better results for the user.”

Last year when Google released the Panda update, major U.S. based retailer J.C. Penney was penalized for spam because their SEO firm was using black-hat optimization tactics to inflate their search rankings.  An official spokesperson from J.C. Penney revealed that they quickly fired their search marketing company and worked to remove the ill-advised paid links that were in violation of Google’s SEO guidelines.  After 90 days, the ban was lifted and J.C. Penney returned to normal rankings.

“The Penguin update is an industry game-changer,” discusses Chris Countey, Director of SEO Strategy at WebiMax.  “Link schemes, keyword stuffing and automated SEO tools have always been frowned upon by the SEO community, but now they are dangerous, too.  Companies who have not yet realized that real inbound marketing is the only sustainable way of improving traffic and conversions are likely to be impacted by Penguin. This could potentially destroy businesses that do not change how they market online and it’s apparent the effects are already being felt,” concludes Countey.

While the update is expected to impact 3% of search queries, Todd Bailey states webmasters already know who they are.

“Nearly 2 days after the Penguin update was rolled out, WebiMax received a ton of calls from prospective clients asking for help,” states Bailey.  “Given that, we decided to have our internal team of developers and senior SEO strategists create PenguinWatch to serve as a reliable platform to provide complete website analyses and deliver additional resources so webmasters can hedge against a detrimental change to their search rankings,” concludes Bailey.