With the crazy race for online companies to adapt, expand, and diversify information and resources..Google keeps us on our toes with yet another update (Panda Update, SEW), and now the birth of their new social ‘circle’ system, Google Plus.

 

Google Plus is new advancement in social media networking, and the automatic udpate and upload of user information, photos, posts, locations, blood type…ok, maybe not yet, but the sense that Google can make the measure of human data and create a vast expansion of marketing groups and an advertising mecca, is not only phenomenal…its scary!

 

The establishment of the new update was a surprise to many search engine analysts and online businesses..most likely because it was an update that was only quietly announced, as stated by Search Engine Watch, “with reports coming in of traffic drops, as well as some recoveries starting around June 16.” Now, according to their blog, Google has stated that these algorithmic changes have been made consitently throughout the year, and is primarily to weed out the ‘low-quality’ sites from the sites that offer a more focused search result for users.

A Tap Dance

Based on these terms, Make Page One has assembled what they believe to the essential ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ in achieving high rank in a Panda world. These include:

1. Keep it fresh! Don’t utilize as much dated material, links to low-quality resources, and articles that keyword stuff. Creating new, unqiue, and hot content is what the Google Monster loves best!

2. Duplicate Content Kills! According to many of the same rules, this one still applies. Create unique content that is not piggy-backing word-for-word other sources on the web, or within your own article database. Some of these instances may also be accidental, but you can always be sure by utilizing sites, like CopyScape. The Duplicate Content process can be easily described through SEOMoz’s Best Practices for SEO. Also, be mindful of canonicalization = site pages that search engines count multiple times because of extra URLs that can had from the same page (deep breath, “http://www.site.com”, can also be opened as, “http://www.site.com?search=article”, same page, same content, counted twice). Best solution for canonical issues? 301 Redirects; we’ll touch base on those in following articles.

3. Overwhelming Advertising! Sites that pack pages with advertising can be penalized for a lack of directive content. This means that bogging your content real-estate can have a negative impact on user search experience, and Google will spank you for it.

4. Too Much External Linking! A little is perfect, too much can kill ya. As with anything, moderation is key. Finding ways to externally linking your pages and content to other outlets should be a process of finding the best sources available. External sources that have a bad reputation can bring down your status as well. Learning how to gauge your sources can be tricky, but not too difficult if you know what tools to use.

5. Backlinks that Never Change! Utilizing back-links from only one source is trouble in the making. Sure, we know what our trusted sources are, but it only allows for so much piggy-backing off of one source for all your information. Its true, we rely on being well informed from our sources…but what kind of non-bias source would I be if I utilized only one outlet for my information? It only makes sense to get a larger perspective on information, and to get it from value, trusted places. Remember #4.

 

In conclusion, these tasks are not as game-changing as they seem in perspective. Truly, they’re only in place to make sure our houses are well in order, and other black-hat sites can’t take advantage of the system. This way, the site owners win, businesses win, and more importantly, the users win…and I don’t mean in Tron. Keeping fresh content, taking advantage of cutting edge multimedia outlets, keeping your audience updated on regular news and resources, and creating a interactive environment for your viewers are only going to bring positive results from the search engines!

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