Just about every single post is about Penguin. Everyone seems to want to talk about recovering from Penguin, getting hit by it... But what people are forgetting is that other penalties still exist! You got hit with penguin if: You did not have anchor text diversity You built links entirely for one keyword All your links are from one or two sources (comments, forums, Web 2.0's) Bad ratio of auto-approved links to higher quality links You got hit with another penalty if: Your site dropped after you loaded it with copied content You filled your site with tons of ads above the fold All your on-site content is spun Your link velocity is unnatural You bought links from an exposed blog network Your keyword density is 75% Your website has only 100 words of content You get links from a link farm Your site is in a link farm. Everyone seems to be overly focused on Penguin. Keep in mind, all the other penalties that existed BEFORE penguin are still strong and active. Google's Penguin update added a few new ways to ban spam sites, but you need to make sure you looking for the right things. Take Home Point: Don't automatically assume that your penalty is a penguin penalty. Look at the big picture.
Excellent point Part Neon, Yeah I guess the point is that the Algos are cumulative. They build on one another not rule each other out right?
The main reasons I've seen people lose rankings is because of targeting too few anchors or having keyword densities near the double digits or higher.