With the 24th change since 2011, Google has made it hard for webmaster to follow their SEO rules. While that might sound scary to some, here are a few tips that can help you master the giant Panda for good.
The Google Panda update has shaken the webmaster world ever since Google released the first update. Now many are left behind, feeling lost on how they can crack the super elite code to make owning and running a website worthwhile. With periodical updates, it now gives extra time for people to figure out how to crack the mystery before the next update comes in to shake things up yet again. This can be a problem for some who are lost in a sea of SEO or those who are newbies, but luckily some of the real core rules for SEO have not changed and will in fact help you survive or even thrive in the middle of all of the ongoing changes. Here are a few of the tips that still ring true today for good SEO firm practices.
1. Content is still king.
Yes, solid content without over stuffed keywords are key to ranking well with Google. Nobody wants filler or unrelated search results showing up when they seek info on Google, hence why they have cracked down on keyword stuffers and spam websites. As for what Google considers to be good content like quality guest posts, it will be around 400 words, keywords placed in a natural flow and content that is actually updated a few times a week at least. These rules seem to be what they have been using these guidelines when it comes to ranking websites for certain keywords. Long gone are the days where badly written content ranks high and as well as for standstill websites.
2. Spam links are a no-no.
Much like what you saw with content remaining king, many spam based websites with affiliate links only used to rank high. That is no longer the case since Google has clamped down on link spamming for higher page rankings and earnings for advertisers. Limit and be mindful of who you link to, including having paid-to-post links. This could hurt your ranking with Google if they catch you accepting paid links.
3. Follow their rules.
That means no malware or X-rated websites. Google has strict rules that range in a wide manner that include illegal to X-rated to malware and they should be followed. If you wish to maintain a decent page ranking within their search engine, you will then need to play with their rules for success.
4. No black-hat SEO.
You should already know this if you ran a website prior to Panda, but if you did not you will then need to remember only white hat SEO is needed. Google has a heavy hand and no patience for little errors that could be made by mistake. Learn how to practice white hat SEO and make sure that you follow those steps to the tee for best results, but also as a protection to make sure no black hat SEO is being used by mistake. Remember, Google has a heavy hand and that should not be ignored or downplayed especially after the Panda updates where made.
5. Update regularly.
This sort of goes with content is king, but that means updating at least twice a week. Google loves a regularly updated website so it can crawl the pages and share the latest info with their users. It may not sound like much or even that hard to do, but it can make up the whole difference with your relationship with Google.
6: Last, but certainly not least important is original content.
Do not use copyrighted, spun, or stolen material at all. This could cause you to be banned by Google and hurt your credibility as a webmaster. It is well known that can easily even result in lawsuits for you. You can always play it safe by using Copyscape or other related checkers to make sure that your content is original and also to make sure no one is using yours.
As you can tell, these six tips are simple enough to follow for even beginners. These six core steps are simple common sense that should have always been followed from the start, but sadly it was not. Instead keywords were focused on and it now seems like Google wants to go back to the basics. So that means the bottom line is that less focus on keywords and more focus on content in the future. This should help keep your website golden in the eyes of the search engine giant.
