Search and Ranking Updates

The Panda Update roll out by Google is still unrolling. This will take months and will affect many sites as it unfurls. The update is a spam filter that is programmed for remove sites which violate the guidelines of the search engine. 

This augurs good for the websites which have been affected by earlier roll out but have rectified accordingly. Hence websites that have removed spam elements will see favorable results as far as organic search is considered. 

In order to avoid being hit by such updates one need to follow guidelines set up by major search engines. Elements like external and internal duplicates, shallow and irrelevant contents face penalty. Excessive use of tags, improper internal linking, keyword stuffing are some of the factors that invite Panda.  

Panda Updates: What Are They?

Panda Updates are rolled out time to time in order to prevent on page spam. Google does not like misuse of on page elements that are purely embedded for increasing the rank on SERPs. Hence the company introduced a filter that could discover spam elements on the page and deal accordingly.       

Content farms where the most targeted using this filter. Blogs and websites using inadequate contents in order to rank higher were pulled down. I had come across many blogs acting as content farms which were of very low quality written by novice writers. The articles  were used to publish on blogs, scraper sites and websites in order to rank high and eventually benefit from the published Ads.      

Google also targets such sites by making changes to its algorithms. The search engine giant has been busy cleaning up the mess. Many sites that have escaped the filters would eventually come under the net in future roll outs. 

Hence the moral of the story is that one should have unique informative contents if you wish your site to rank well and attain impressive traffic. Misuse of on page elements like H1, H2, H3 tags, repeated keywords and irrelevant and shallow literature on sites will result in rankings going down.     

Likewise link farms, as portals having too many links then is natural are also the target. Spam link architecture in order to promote few pages is also discouraged.

Though it is anybody's guess as to what content the search engine ascribes as unique. But it is simple approach that matters. No copied contents, no internal duplicate contents,  no verbosity or garbage. Be sensible in order to avoid online penalties which the search engines may impose.

Search Engine Optimization a shifting paradigm

Many of the sites with aggressive promotion or link building have taken a heavy toll on the serps. This has happened after the roll out of Panda Filter and Penguin algorithmic changes.  You may be surprised by the delay of my entries since the last one was on May 2012.

Well some of my sites experienced negative changes  while a couple with duplicate contents unknown to me suffered very badly. It is obvious that sites that have been hit have been aggressively promoted other than my own activities. 

The Aftermath

Clients 

Rule One: Of seo has emerged for client. Get one who does not have any idea of seo... but service them sincerely. 

Rule Two: Interfering clients and those with half backed knowledge of seo do not last long. They keeping moving from one aggressive link builder to another till the domain is exhausted and put out by the search engines for ever.     

Link Building

Rule Three: Rely very less on paid links. Go for topically relevant paid links only if strong referral generation is achieved.

Rule Four: Relevancy cannot be sacrificed. Search Engines are being influenced by many other mark ups and feeders. Hence be careful what you put on Google places, plus, classifieds etc.  

Rule Five: Try to get natural back links with unique informative content on board. This applies to internal or resource pages as well.

Rule Six: Get back links from sources with acclaimed editorial scrutiny. This means writing expert contents and staying away from quickfire postings on blogs, forums and resorting to minimal submissions elsewhere. 

Rule Seven: Number of back links count but those with approval ratings as mentioned above. Thresholds have to be kept in mind.Example one good article = ten bad articles.

Rule Eight: Keep searching for good emerging platforms. 

Rule Nine: Involve Social Media. 

Rule Ten:A good back link platform has a good page rank, relevant to the topic of your website, has less ads properly placed. Less number of links per page, all relevant links in the category. Submissions/publications go through editorial scrutiny. Certainly not made for unwarranted revenue generations. Use your experience to make out more about a good platform and inform me kindly. 

Rule eleven: Aim at long tailed/ secondary search terms for reaching the primary goal.  

On Page Optimization 

Rule Twelve: Begins with unique site contents. Sites with blemish in contents never reach anywhere on serps.

Rule Thirteen: Accurate content creation is a must for a successful websites. The Content Creation is important for achieving results on targeted terms.  

Rule Fourteen: User Friendly Architecture. All important information should be easily found from anywhere on site.  

Rule Fifteen: Use robot text file properly or add directions in meta for search engine to follow and index the page or avoid it.  

Rule Sixteen: Page Download Speed: Does the site load happily for you ..well that is the landmark.

Rule Seventeen: For Speed:  Reduce Http: requests, define images, optimize images, use server side includes,  keep the page length optimum.In all these matters consult an experienced web designer.

Rule Eighteen: Unique Title/Meta Desc for every page this is a must.

Rule Nineteen: Try Meta Data on home page that describes the ownership/service etc.

Rule Twenty: Optimize alt text.

Rule Twenty One: Place your internal links right. More useful on top.

Rule Twenty Two: Place ads according to SE guidelines. .

Rule Twenty Three: Properly Format text and make them easily readable.

Rule Twenty Four: Minimize Text Descriptive, do not use H1 tags for promotional purpose it should describe the page as well. Avoid bold, underline and tags etc. 

Rule Twenty Five: Keep keyword density 3 to 4 percent. Use keywords in contents natural or else avoid them.Write to describe the offerings and not for search engines. You contents should make the targeting of chosen search terms possible. 

Rule Twenty Six: Work up on LSI.

Rule Twenty Seven: Resort to Internal Linking if required.

There is more to come in time to come...keep on hanging 

Panda Update - Google Algorithms

Not to be confused with Panda the animal the update refers to the man behind recent algorithmic changes. The update is named after Navneet Panda the chief architect of recent changes.  This way best seo practices have been further strengthened. 

As I have been always saying the impetus on SERPs lies on quality site building. This does not mean standard optimization practices have been done away with. The paradigm has changed, it is good quality site first. A website for users and not overtly manipulated for search engines.       

Look deeper into the site especially the design part like download speed, user friendliness, contents etc. Scraper sites or those made for Ads were completely wiped out leaving few that offer good information. Those who relied on content picked up from other sites by intent and habit have suffered the most. The sites have been pushed down deep or eliminated from the SERPs.  The Panda update has pushed the seo professional more towards understanding web design and contents though he may not be a designer. 

Dig deeper in the analytic in order to discover how visitors treat your site. Do they find information they are seeking and easily? This depends upon content creation and link architecture and your analytic will display the time spent on your website. This is called the bounce rate and it tells the search engines how much time has been spent on site - the more the merrier.