Nothing gets those in the business of SEO talking like rumors of a Google algorithm change, and it seems that this time around (yes, another change is on the way), Google is trying to preempt some of these rumors by clarifying, in advance, what businesses can expect. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s web spam team, recently published a video explaining what businesses can expect in the next couple of months, including the algorithmic change called “Penguin 2.0, ” which is targeted to black hat web spam (watch the interview).

In the video, Cutts outlines several areas that businesses should pay attention to.

1. Stay away from link spamming

We believe that Sales Renewal clients can confidently disregard this warning, as we take a “natural” approach to linkbuilding – requests for links on relevant or complementary websites, guest blogging, participation in forums that are appropriate for our clients.

2. Set up Google Authority

While Google Authorship and Google+ may not have the visibility or popularity of sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, rest assured that behind the scenes, Google is working to connect these two aspects of a personal and business profile with search results. Whether a business is highly active in the Google+ realm or not, we recommend at a minimum maintaining your listing, posting regular status updates, and working to increase your followers. Likewise, any blog post that can be linked to Google Authorship can only help your website, as Google looks for these connections as signals of your authority in your field. (Learn how to set up Google Authorship.)

3. Use Webmaster Tools on a regular basis

I know webmasters who are reluctant to use Google’s Webmaster Tools because of frustrating experiences when using it in the past. But Google has made periodic improvements to the tool, and it now has a more useful, more intuitive, easier-to-navigate interface. This is part of Google’s attempt to better communicate with webmasters, providing information about how to deal with a hacked site and more concrete details about ways to handle other technical issues as they arise.

In conclusion, Cutts repeats Google’s message that if you “create a great site that users love, tell their friends about, bookmark, and come back to over and over again, ” you have nothing to worry about.

– Audrey Trieschman