In Google’s continual effort to weed out spam websites and rank only quality ones, yet another update of their Panda search engine algorithm has been recently released. While the main purpose of this release is to help good websites be ranked, some have still been labeled as untrustworthy and been taken down. The basics behind Panda are simple, although Austin SEO professionals suggest remembering the most important point in making a websites Panda-proof, which is that content is king. Content is still the best asset to ensure that websites survive through this and future algorithm updates.
With this in mind, it is important to consider the following suggestions about any website content currently posted in case certain areas should be improved.
- Remove Duplicate Content – This is one of the main areas where Panda has become very aggressive and many websites are losing that battle with Google. While duplicate content has never been a great idea, it is more essential now more than ever to remove it or risk losing the entire website ranking.
- Plagiarized Content – Whether on the same or different sites, Austin SEO specialists warn to be aware of information sources. Identify content that may be duplicated elsewhere and then be sure that all new content is fresh. It is also recommended to use no-index meta tags, convert data into a canonical form, use 301 redirects, and other methods where duplicate information appears.
- Remove Low Quality Content – Panda has a few different definitions of low quality content that are viewed as spam. Low quality pages include those that get few or no hits; ones that do not retain viewers for a minimal amount of time causing high bounce rates; pages that have content with spelling and grammatical errors; information that offers little value or purpose; pages with mostly ads; and pages with duplicate content. Removing or improving such low value pages is highly recommended.
- Build Up Quality Content – After finding problem areas, the most important step is to fix them by improving content to be relevant, useful and value-providing to readers. This involves: updating lean pages to contain more than just a few lines; correcting all grammar and spelling errors; add images and even videos to support articles; and basically improve content to reflect a planned effort as opposed to a feeble few minute attempt to gain page rank. Re-evaluating navigation and URL structure according to Google’s suggestions on avoiding duplicate content can be helpful as well.
Once existing content has been corrected, be sure to only add high quality content that considers the above concerns. A good website of which Panda would approve is one that is useful and helpful to visitors and readers.
If there is one lesson to learn about this newer, more stringent Panda update that is attempting to eliminate spam pages from ranking, it is to work harder to make websites worth keeping. Gone are the days where anyone could launch a site with a few pages of text each and a lot of advertising. Austin SEO specialists advise that the purpose behind the update is to protect good websites, not penalize them. Here is the key to such an achievement – in order to not fall victim, good websites need to actually be good!