Really, is there much difference between an unnatural links warning and Penguin?

[MarieHaynes]

We know that the unnatural links warnings are manual and that Penguin is algorithmic.  (I'm not talking about the latest round of confusing unnatural links warnings, but the ones sent out months ago that eventually resulted in a loss of rankings for those who didn't clean their link profiles up.)

Is there much difference in the recovery process for either?  From what I can see, both are about unnatural/spammy linking to your site.  The only difference I can see is that once you feel you've cleaned up after getting an unnatural links warning you can file a reconsideration request.  But, if you've cleaned up after a Penguin hit you need to wait for the next Penguin refresh in order to see if you've recovered.

Are there other differences that I am not getting?

[MarieHaynes]

Thank you.  

[RuthBurrReedy]

Yes, I would say so.

[MarieHaynes]

Thanks Ruth, so would you agree that the cleanup is the same?  Whether you had a manual warning, or you got hit with Penguin, the way you would recover is the same (other than filing for reconsideration request with the former)?

[RuthBurrReedy]

The main difference between the two is that a reconsideration request is more likely to work with a link warning than with a regular Penguin hit.  Penguin is algorithmic, whereas the link warnings were usually triggered by/resulted in manual penalties.  Either way, it's a good idea to try to get as many spammy links removed/updated as possible, as well as build some new, non-spam links to increase the percentage of your links that are not spammy.

I wouldn't suggest building more spammy links to drown out the Penguin-targeted links - why not spend that time and effort building some natural links?  They will last longer and if you do have to do a reconsideration request you're not running the risk that Google will also see your brand-new spam links.

[irvingw]

haha been hit with a penalty because of spamming links? spam more links to your site that will fix everything! crazy

[jenmcardle]

Is there much difference in the recovery process for either [Penguin or manual link penalty]?

Theoretically no, practically yes.

A manual penalty will be reviewed by the Google Spam Team. If you are not successful at removing the links, you will need to provide extensive documentation on the steps taken to remove the penalty. When Google manually reviews links, they will not remove the penalty simply because you adjusted anchor text. If the link is spammy, it needs to be removed regardless of the anchor text.

A penguin penalty can be algorithmically removed. Many SEO companies are simply manipulating the anchor text rather then removing the spammy links and they are getting away with it to at least some degree...for now. Another tactic is to "drown out" the links penalized by Penguin with other spammy links which do not use anchor text. These solutions are quite bad as these sites are subject to future penalties as Google improves their algorithms.