Since the recent Google Penguin, and Panda updates, some webmasters have been penalized due to changes in Google’s algorithm, including my blog which went from PR6 to PR3, which I am working to fix. There has been some changes to what is considered to be good SEO (search engine optimization), which is why it is of paramount importance that you know how to recover from these updates if your website was affected, hence this article.
Firstly, one must make sure that their website has good quality content. Here are some things mentioned on Google Web Master Central that they’re looking for when it comes to quality content.
Quality Content
- If an article is written, make sure that it was written by an expert or enthusiast on the subject.
- Ensure that you don’t have duplicate, or redundant content. (Google views this as being spammy, also make sure you don’t plagiarize other people’s content).
- Check your grammar, not only will people not take you seriously if you have improper grammar, but so will Google. Also make sure every thing on your website is factually true.
- Don’t have excessive ads on your page that will bog down a user’s experience.
Reliability & Speed
Since the update, Google has changed the way that they view web pages and now things like over optimization can be a problem for some people. Since Google has moved away from overly optimized content, you want to focus on making your site extremely user friendly. One big factor is reliability and speed. Improving your speed can be very easy by making some simple changes like combining your javascript and CSS files, and choosing a good company that can provide you with fast and reliable web hosting services.
Google+
As most people have noticed by now, Google has introduced a social networking service. (Follow me). With this, they have also introduced +1 button for pages once you’ve signed up for it, like you can see on the bottom of this page. It’s a button that when users click on it, they notify their friends on Google plus that they like that website. Since Google Plus’ inception in June of 2011, it has accumulated over 250 million users.
Keeping this in mind, it is definitely something to consider, but don’t think that this means it’s a good idea to spam your page with thousands of +1 clicks a day. Google isn’t stupid, and can see when people are being manipulative and exploitative.
Quality Backlinks
Make sure that the backlinks that you have to your website, are good quality. In recent updates. Google de-indexed several pages that were spammy and used for black hat SEO tactics. Blog networks, and paid link allocators like “buildmyrank” were predicated on the idea of writing articles that were keyword rich, and blasting them all over the web for link juice.
Think of their tactics like trying to fill a bucket with water, one shot glass at a time. Except you’re using 1000 shot glasses. Their sole purpose was to have an aggregation of different articles for all different types of websites that had no relevance to one another to try and accumulate mass back links to whomever payed them. This type of black hat tactic used to work, but no longer. In fact it will severely hurt your website’s rankings, and you can be penalized for it. Stay away from websites that offer instant rankings, because SEO doesn’t work like that and you will only be hurting yourself.
De-Index Pages
As crazy as it may seem, it is now a good idea to de-index, and no follow superfluous pages on your own website, or even reviews of products you may sell. These pages are intended for the user, and typically wont have any content that has any relevance to Google. The important thing to note about doing this though, is that you will only ever want to de-index pages like this if you’re in the process of starting up a new web page. If you have an existing website, then just leave it alone. It’s better for Google’s spiders to gradually realize that they don’t need to follow these types of pages, than doing it all at once which could put the rank of your domain in detriment. Also you will want to de-index low quality websites that have linked to your pages. When it comes to SEO it is always better to have quality over quantity now more than ever.
Link Older Pages With Newer Pages
Lastly, it is a good idea to link older pages to newer pages with newer content, as long as they’re relevant. This practice is called interlinking, and Google’s current algorithm likes to see this. This will ensure you spread out your link juice all over your page, and will give the links that you use more synergy with each other and more meaning. If your rank on the SERPs is important to you (it should be), then it is a good idea to stay up to date on updates in Google’s algorithm.
More SEO related articles:
- 10 SEO Rules for Designers
- Strategies to Make Facebook SEO Friendly
- 9 SEO Tips You’ve Probably Forgot About
- How to Get Free Advertising on Google
- Designing Websites with SEO & Conversions In Mind
Have you noticed a dip or rise in your ranks? How did you overcome them?
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