I had recently predicted in one of my recent posts that Google Panda may strike again and I am pleased to say that it struck within a couple of days of my saying so. Other than patting my back, I have something interesting to say about the recent Panda attack.
Google search algo goes hammer and tongs against keyword stuffing
Matt Cutts (Expert in Google search team) had announced much earlier that this would happen. The philosophy is not new. Google search has always been against sites which indulge in keyword stuffing. But this time around, Google has gone a step further. It’s now after sites which over optimize their content. There are, as usual, two views on this subject. Some SEO experts argue that optimization is rather relative and it’s far more difficult to isolate sites which are over optimized than those who brazenly indulge in keyword stuffing. The other group is of the view that many decent, white hat websites would get hurt badly without any fault of their own.
The story of inbound links
It seems that unrelated inbound links are one reason why sites and blogs may face the axe. I wonder how Google will evaluate a website which has thousands of inbound links. In the absence of any concrete data, I would recommend site owners to go for as many inbound links as possible – more the merrier. At least some link juice will stick. Of course there is no harm if your anchor text has some relevance to the content. In this particular case, I would like to include broadband internet services as part of content. Semantic relevance like cable internet, high speed downloads and broadband services in your neighborhood are some examples which I would like to slide into my content. I suppose less in these cases is always more (remember that Google doesn’t want you to over optimize)
Impact of new Panda update
As far as impact of this update goes, there are many horror stories. Many website have simply disappeared from the search radar altogether. I have done a bit of research on this. I would tentatively say that onsite content has more to do with this update. If your title, headings and content has repeated keywords, you might as well do something about it. This is where you leave a trail of over optimization. Google guys suggest that your content should be natural but I suspect that being natural won’t get you anywhere.
Conclusion
In this scenario I would go back to my long held belief. Your blog or website must have more than fifty pages of content. You must sprinkle your content with keywords but remember not to overdo it.
Your inbound links must be over hundred. To begin with, you must try and get links from authority sites. As you progress you must shift gear from quality to quantity. This would present a nice profile to the Google search engine.
Sarah lamb is an avid blogger and likes to dwell on the nuances of writing for blogs. In addition to writing, she is presently promoting Time Warner Cable Deals ,one of the popular internet access providers.
Yeah, and what is even worse (for some sites) is that right after the last Panda update a brand new Penguin update was rolled out. It definitely complicated matters.
Good points I was not affected at all the last updates because I think like you quality useful content that is written by you, and only link to high quality authoruty blogs and you will be just fine.
Tip for newbies: Do not post 1,000’s of junk links using software Google is cracking down on this in this last update and your website will pay the price in the long run.
Do it manually it may take longer but it will be worthwhile in the end!