Google’s penguin algorithm could not solely ignore hyperlinks, it could goal the complete web site

When Google was released Penguin 4.0, Google said it was about an update Devalue links, do not downgrade links. That said, Google would just ignore the spam and bad links, and your website would not be demoted because of those links. Well, Google said, sometimes Penguin can downgrade your website as well.

This contradicts all the news Google has said since the Penguin 4.0 was released?

John Mueller was asked by Google at the 37:06 mark “Is the penguin penalty still relevant or are less relevant / spammy / toxic backlinks more or less ignored by the ranking algorithm these days?”

John replied that for the most part Google will simply ignore the links, but in some cases where the site has a clear pattern of spam and manipulative links, Penguin might decide to simply distrust the entire site.

John said “I’d say it’s a mix of both” when answering that question. That said, Google Penguin can both ignore links and downgrade websites if necessary. John said, “When our systems realize that they cannot isolate and ignore those links on a website.” John added that if Google sees a “very strong pattern” there, the Google “algorithms” may lose “confidence in this website” and you may see a “drop in visibility there”.

Here is the video embed where he said this:

Here is the transcript:

Is the penguin penguin still relevant or less relevant nowadays, spam-toxic backlinks are more or less ignored by the ranking algorithms.

I would say it’s a mix of both.

So most of the time, when we can see that something is problematic and is any kind of spam link and we try to ignore it. When our systems recognize that they cannot isolate and ignore these links on a website. If we see a very strong pattern there, it can happen that our algorithms say we have really lost confidence in this website and at the moment, based on the bigger picture on the web, we almost have to be more of a conservative side, though it is about understanding the content of this website and placing it in the search results. And then you see a kind of collapse in visibility there.

But for the most part like the web, the web is pretty messy and we realize that we have to ignore a lot of the links out there. So for the most part I think that’s fine. Ordinarily, you would only see this type of drop if it was really a strong and clear pattern associated with the website.

Forum discussion at YouTube community.