While it’s nothing new, a lot of webmasters are frustrated with Google for penalties their sites have received. The recent attack on guest blog posts has sparked a whole new round of outcries. Google says, however, that it tries to focus more on proactive and positive features, and less on penalties. You wouldn’t know that to read conversations that are happening every day on search blogs and forums, but that’s the stance Google is taking. Meanwhile, Google thinks we’re too bored to want to see lists of algorithm changes (which would presumably include some of these “positive” and “proactive” things). It used to release these regularly.

We also keep seeing tweets from Matt Cutts about how Google is taking action on various networks. It doesn’t exactly convey a lack of focus on penalties.

Do you think Google really is more focused on proactive features than it is on penalizing other sites? Let us know what you think.

So you know how Google penalized a site and cited one link from a guest post that was on a topic that Google didn’t think belonged on the site (even though the site owner felt it did, and most other people can see the natural fit in topic)?

Danny Sullivan wrote an article about that, which this guy shared on Twitter, saying that Google penalties have “jumped the shark”. Matt Cutts responded:

Danny also jumped in, and Matt again:

One that note about Google focusing less on penalties and more on proactive, positive stuff like natural language, Aaron Wall threw up a survey.

Here’s what it’s showing as of Thursday:

Maybe perception would be different if Google hadn’t stopped putting out those monthly lists of algorithm updates, which might have illustrated some of that natural language-type stuff more. Maybe.

Cutts also had to defend Google from comparisons to the Emprie in Star Wars.

Do you think Google really is more focused on adding positive features to its search engine as opposed to penalizing sites? Let us know in the comments.

Note: This article has been updated to include more context and tweets.

Image via PollDaddy