How To Avoid Penalties From Google Panda Updates
It appears Google has started a new update (some are calling it "Google Panda Update 2.2" in reference to the original update on February 24, 2011 which affected 12% of all websites in the Google index).
The original Panda update targeted low-quality websites publishing low-quality content. This algorithm change caused several online websites to lose search engine rankings and a ton of traffic. Most penalized were using duplicate content or software programs (called "scrapers") to collect pieces of content from other websites in an attempt to produce a new article.
The new update was announced at SMX Advance Conference recently by Google's Matt Cutts and is currently revealing some good news and some bad news.
The bad news: If your website survived the original Panda update - and you're publishing low-quality content - then the current Panda update will catch your website this time and, as a result, you may suffer the consequences in both search engine rankings and traffic.
The good news: Some websites that suffered penalties in February, fixed their content problems and are currently reporting some recovery in search engine rankings.
If your website experienced a drop in rankings and traffic due to any Panda updates, it's still not too late to correct problems and be in the good graces of Google.
Furthermore, penalities or not, here are some good tips to improve overall search engine rankings, traffic and link building for your website:
- Eliminate poor content. This includes anything that was lifted from other sources, websites, article directories, newspapers and generated by scraper software. Take a look at your Google Analytics. Pages that aren't getting "reads" by visitors can be considered weak content. Find it and either make it better or get rid of it.
Cutts recently stated "marketers need to start thinking about how to be creative with content." He also added that marketers needed to focus on the original value of the website copy and content.
- Eliminate duplicate content. Not only does this include content from other websites or from your blog, etc., but it also includes duplicate content from page-to-page within your website.
- Eliminate poor pages. If pages aren't getting indexed by Google, then you might have a problem with poor content and may need to consider eliminating the page.
- Write quality content. Content needs to be original, interesting, educational and keyword-rich. Be creative.
- Identify authors of content. Authors and experts of articles and blog posts should be identified. This lets the reader (and Google) know the article has been written by an expert who knows the topic well.
- Make sure your page content and page title tags match the Google search queries.
- Google says every business should be creating a Google Profile. It's free. Do it now.
- Improve link building. A low number of inbound links (or poor quality inbound links) may cause lower rankings. Little, no mention or no links to a page from social media sites is also potentially harmful.
Link building remains a very important part of search engine optimization and traffic. Quality content on your website and blog will help you earn more inbound links from other websites. You should be promoting your content in social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook.
- Google strongly suggests that all webmasters regularly monitor site performance, including website speed. Google's Webmaster Guidelines recommend using Page Speed, YSlow, WebPagetest, or other tools.
- Remember, content also includes images, videos, pictures, etc.
If you believe your website has suffered as a result of Panda updates, Google suggests "you do your best to improve the overall quality of the pages on your domain. Removing low quality pages or moving them to a different domain could help your rankings for the higher quality content."
Finally, Cutts warned that website owners shouldn't be chasing algorithm changes. Instead, he noted, they should be going after what visitors would want, expect and love from their website. Which, coincidentally, is exactly the same thing Google loves.
Need learn more? Check out Google's Quality Guidelines for more information.
