Google have announced that penguin 2.0, another big update to Google's algorithm, is just around the corner. In fact, it is a matter of weeks away! So, I have put together a quick checklist to use against your sites to make sure they are are Penguin ready!

First of all, what is happening in this update exactly? Well, for once Google has been very forthcoming and shared some fantastic insights. Matt Cutts (head of web spam @ Google) posted this video: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/what-to-expect-in-seo-in-the-coming-months/ which I highly recommend you watch!

Here's a quick list of what is changing:

• Advertorial Link Spam (paid advert links)
• Monitoring spammy queries
• Link spamming will be hit hard
• Even better Link Analysis
• Improvements to hacked sites
• Authority boost
• Moderating the Panda impact
• Multiple listings of same domain in SERPS will be reduced.
• Better communication in WMT

With these things in mind, here is a short checklist for your sites to make sure you don't get hit by Penguin 2.0.

• If you pay for links, make sure they don't pass pagerank (rel=nofollow on links!)
• Don't use link networks, Google is working hard to hit these people hard
• Moderate spam on your site. Don't let it get in!
• You can benefit from the Authority Boost, by presenting yourself as an authoritative voice in your market you'll rank better.

As long as you follow what is considered white-hat SEO techniques you'll come out the other end of Penguin 2.0 just fine. Remember to write all of your content for the user, build a solid presence on social media and to find high quality links.

My hope is a lot of bad competitors in the various e-commerce niches will get hit hard, allowing sites (like some of the ones I work on) who practice good SEO techniques will rise back to their former glory.

Is there anything missing, do you think I overlooked anything? Let me know in the comments or on twitter (use #mPenguin2 on twitter)