Google Penguin & Panda Updates

Most people think of cute animals when they hear the words “Penguin” and “Panda” but for

many search engine optimization service providers, these two words are to be feared. Google’s Penguin and Panda are algorithm

updates that play separate roles in improving the overall experience of online users.

While algorithm updates should be primarily a concern for companies providing online

marketing services, business owners who use SEO services should also know about them. That’s because if your SEO service provider happens to violate Google’s SEO guidelines,

these algorithm changes will drastically affect your website’s ranking and your business will

suffer the consequences. So before it’s too late, read our guide on the dreaded Google Penguin and Panda updates and what they

mean to your business.

The Penguin algorithm is targeted at web spam. It was launched in April 2012. Its second

version was released just this May, with two other updates in between Penguin 1 and 2.0. “The change will decrease rankings for sites

that we believe are violating Google’s existing quality guidelines,” says Google’s official

announcement. “Next generation” Penguin affected 3.1% of search queries.

Introducing Penguin, the Web Spam Fighter

Google search spam chief Matt Cutts advised webmasters to build websites that “people will

tell their friends about and bookmark,” as opposed to conducting spamming. Web spam

is often conducted by SEO providers desperate to get back links. In short, Penguin is

about links.

The other algorithm change that shook the SEO industry was Panda, which was designed

to target poor quality content, particularly duplicate articles. It was launched in February 2011, with the most recent update rolled out

just this July.

Get to Know Panda, the Crusher of Poor Content

“This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value

add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful,” says Google’s announcement. At the

same time, Panda will also improve the rankings of “high-quality sites with original

content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis, and so on.”

In the online marketing world, there’s a popular term called “slap” which is when

Google penalizes a website for “black hat” methods, or practices that violate its

guidelines. Sometimes a penalty can be as “subtle” as a slight drop in rankings.

Sometimes it’s as worse as being removed from search results. Regardless of what

penalty your site receives, it can lead to a massive drop in traffic and in the overall

positive reputation of your website.

What These Updates Mean to Your Business

The hard part is recovering from these penalties. You will need to clean up your

website, remove spammy backlinks, and so on. And then you will need to reinvest your

marketing budget on more SEO efforts, this time hoping that you will not be penalized.

Investing in non-compliant SEO service providers, therefore, is not a wise move. Any black hat activity they conduct can result to

penalties for your website, and lost opportunities for your business.

Not all business owners have the technical know-how when it comes to online marketing.

That’s why they rely on trusted SEO service providers to take care of their websites and

online presence. In essence, they entrust their business to SEO service providers. It is

therefore crucial to know if you are indeed entrusting your business to a provider that is

compliant with Google’s SEO guidelines and in tune with these search algorithm updates.

How to Tell Compliant SEO from Spammy and Poor SEO

Focusing on High Quality and Fresh Content – Content must be written for the target

audience and not for search engines. Content must be something of value, something

useful to users connecting your business, products or services to them. It is therefore

important that your provider makes an effort to understand your business, target market, products and services through consultation

and provide a mechanism for regular creation of content.

Here are some indicators that your provider is up to date with SEO best

practices:

Building Natural Backlinks – The best way for people to link back to you is to publish high quality content that is engaging and worth

sharing.Using Social Media – A smart SEO service

provider uses social media to help spread your content in the digital social sphere.

Likes, pluses, shares, tweets, and retweets strengthen your social signal which is

important as it is part of the SEO signals that Google detects.

Saying No to Spammy Techniques – Make sure your provider does not involve spamming in

their SEO practice. Unnatural or spammy links will get you and your website in trouble. A

compliant, high caliber SEO service provider does not do the following:Massive submission

of articles to article submission sitesMassive forum postingsMassive guest postings

All of the above with the same sets of keyword-rich anchor texts

On-Page, Off-Page Optimization – Ensure your SEO provider optimizes not just the content on

your site but also your navigation, SEO tags such as the title, description, alt texts; overall

site structure. They also optimize (but not over-optimize) content and links placed on

external sites such as blogs, press release sites, social media and social sharing sites.

Knows Panda & Penguin Updates – Online marketing services providers must know all about Google’s algorithm updates. If they

could not provide consulting about it, then it’s either they’re not yet compliant or worse, they

really don’t know about them.

Recovering from Panda and Penguin penalties will be difficult and time consuming. But if that

happens, you will need a comprehensive website audit report to know what could be

the possible causes of the penalties. Bad links need to be removed. Bad content needs to be

improved or taken down. Your compliant provider will know what to do.

How to Deal with Google Algorithm Updates

The best way to deal with algorithm updates still, is prevention. While business owners

need not know the technical aspect of SEO, it will help if they can determine whether a

provider is up to date with the latest search algorithm changes. All it takes is to ask the

provider about the items above. Doing so will give you some idea on whether they are

compliant and if you can indeed entrust your website and your business to them.

Our SEO methodologies comply with the latest search algorithm updates, including

Google’s Penguin and Panda. We are not into black hat techniques, spammy practices and over optimization of anchor texts. We focus on creating high quality and fresh content,

building natural links, uses social media, maximizing Google+ for improved

SEO footprint, and conducting on-page and off-page optimization.

Telephone:1300 768 100

Email:info@redbackwebs.com.au

Or Visit our Website:http://www.redbackwebs.com.au/

To see how we can help you get more traffic, leads, and customers online.