The Google Panda Update has been a major talk among the webmasters, website owners and SEO Professionals during the last couple of months. But, what really is the Google Panda Update/Google Algorithm and how are we to cope with it the right way? In this article, I will cover some of the things we should be doing to rank well and to stay well ranked!
What is Google Panda Update 2.2, 2.3?
The 2.2, 2.3 at the end are simply newer versions of the Google Panda Update or some minor changes in the algorithm that Google uses to rank websites in the search results. The reason for such algorithm’s update is to provide better user experience through relevant and quality search results delivered by the Search Engine. This change in the ranking algorithms help in fighting against spammers and allowing legitimate websites to rank better.
Important Search Engine Ranking Factors
Whether your website has been hit by the recent Google Panda Update or not, you are still very concern about what you should and should not do for your site to rank well in the search results. So, let me quickly outline some major factors that you need to consider…
1. Website Structure
Having a nice search engine friendly and visitor friendly site structure is still as important as before. Both search engines and users should be able to easily browse the website. Coding should be clean and optimized and the navigational structure and page layout should not be confusing to your visitors.
2. Backlinks
Backlinks is also as important as before the Google Panda Update. However, going around the web spamming directories, blogs and forums for backlinks to your website is something that will kill the quality of your site causing its ranking to drop. Getting good quality backlinks from legitimate authority website is something that will definitely help rank your site better.
3. User Engagement
This is yet another great ranking factor. User Engagement here refers to how visitors will react on the website and other sites especially the major social websites. If visitors just come and immediately leave your website, this will mean that you don’t have good quality content that interest your visitors and Google will de-valuate your site. Moreover, user engagement on the common social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ etc… will also help your site to rank better. Are people talking about it? Are they sharing your website’s pages?
4. Quality Content On-site
This is absolutely and without a doubt the most important ranking factor. Having content copied from other websites, also known as ‘Duplicate Content‘ is something that will drop your site’s ranking to even being completely de-indexed in some cases. So, make sure your website has unique quality content that is relevant and of interest to your readers (website visitors).
Following the above simple SEO guidelines will help maintain your website’s ranking by being in-line with the Google Panda Update. This change in Google’s Algorithm is not something we should fear about if we are doing ethical white-hat SEO the right way.