5 Brilliant Ideas for Post-Penguin SEO
Note: This is a guest post by Emma Tomlinson. (Thanks Emma for this well researched post.)
Search engines have always had a battle with the increasing number of “spammy” websites. In particular, Google—a leading search engine giant—developed or tweaked its set of algorithms to make way for better and stricter updates, popularly known as the Panda and Penguin.
Lest the cute and cuddly names fool you, these two have forever changed the face of SEO. But since it will take more than one post to discuss them, we will only talk about Penguin.
What is it all about?
This update focused mostly on off-page SEO strategies, particularly to the links on a site. It has no qualms in taking down websites that are spammy, over-optimized, or reliant on keyword anchor texts.
But more than that, it also deals with other types of webspam like artificial link building and black-hat SEO.
How does this affect my site?
Even if you are a devoted white-hat practitioner, it is still possible for your site to be affected by this update. Why? Your link building methods before Penguin may not be what Google considers “correct”. And as it turns out, a lot of webmasters made this mistake too.
Techniques That Work After Penguin
1. Know what constitutes “good links”
Back in the days, the focus was on how many links lead to your website. Today, the quantity of your incoming and internal links is irrelevant. What matters is their quality.
Now how can you distinguish which ones are worthy?
First, they should come from reliable or respectable websites. Consider the PageRank and the SERP ranking of such sites. A high rating is always a good sign. Also, take note of the fan base that the domain attracts.
Second, they should land on pages where other sites are linked to. For example, if you are site A and you have an outbound link to site B, that page should contain reliable inbound and outbound links from other sites.
Third, they should be useful to the user. For example, if a link is inserted in an article, it should lead the user to supplementary information that he can use. If it is embedded in a page, it should lead the user to other practical Web pages.
Sure, these criteria are lofty at best, but these will ensure high-value links to and on your domain.
2. Know the structure your website
If you do not have a definitive design or structure, how can you know which Webpages are “faulty” or which ones are gaining leverage on search engine results pages? More importantly, if you are not aware about the structure you have, how can you implement effective strategies for SEO?
It is important that you know about every page type you have and find out which of these have low value to you.
Start by using Google to dissect the different niches or categories of your site.
1. Type a query for your domain.
2. Add your existing sub-domains
By doing this, you will have an idea how many pages are being indexed by Google. Note though that this will not give you an exact amount. The main purpose is just to help you analyse which pages are “ineffective” and need further enhancement. Of course, Google Analytics is also a great way to assess your site.
3. Define your “crawl” path
Again, it all boils down to the structure of your website. How organized are your categories and sub-categories? How does your navigation system work? Is it easy both for search crawlers and your audiences?
Part of a great SEO strategy is to have a website design that is simple and straight forward. This is important because it makes it easier for search bots to index your pages.
To point you in the right direction, this is how Google enters your website:
4. Focus on inbound marketing
Although you can always negotiate with other sites to link to yours, there is a better way of building up your incoming links—and that is through marketing.
By improving your website, specifically its content, your readers will reward you with high-quality link profiles that will contribute to your overall SEO goals. Remember that your domain should ALWAYS prioritize audiences. Otherwise, if you will not cater to their needs, you will fall behind the spotlight of search engines.
5. Track your efforts
Often neglected, this technique is the best way to ensure that all your efforts do not go to waste. To help you out, here are simple strategies to monitor your progress:
- Use Google Analytics to track your traffic, specifically if the trajectory heads downwards.
- Take note of the pages you “noindex” or included in robots.txt files.
- Utilize Google Analytics Debugger to debug your tracking code.
To wrap it up…
This is just some of the plethora of techniques to help you recover from Penguin. But before you start thinking “If I made it through that, I’ll be okay”, note that this is just one of the many steps involved in changing the face of SEO and the Internet technology as a whole. It is important for you to continue updating your knowledge on this field and learning to adapt to certain changes. Only then will your survive and stay on top of the game.
About the Author:
Emma Tomlinson is the Head of Retail at Smart Traffic SEO Consultancy, a top company in the UK offering a range of online services.
I think this is too much of useful information for a simple guy like me, just kidding. This is recommended information in term of Penguin Updates. But so far I cannot figure out the term quality linking, there links that taken on name, like profile name or company name rather than keywords. Will it help?
Ayan Gamer recently posted..Bombshells: Hell’s Belles Free Download For Android and iPhone
Haha! A case of information overload? Thanks for appreciating my post Ayan. Regarding your question: yes, it will help! In fact, using that is better because it is specific and really targeted to your firm. Great idea!
The real battle is to keep everything relevant and real. The old strategies of link buying don’t work anymore, and it is killing alot of people and businesses who are still doing it.
Overall, just be a legitimate blog, do your linkbuilding efforts, build a community, and you shouldn’t have much to worry about
Joe Boyle recently posted..Easily Making WordPress 250% More Secure
Hi Joe! Link buying is indeed an old strategy that will no longer work. And I like your idea that “it is killing a lot of people and businesses who are still doing it.” We should all just be legitimate bloggers, build a community, and focus on link building. Thanks for the suggestions!
I got just 9 quality links from reputable sites and my blog’s Alexa rank decreased three, and decreasing more day by day. So Quality Link building is essential for a blog to be successful.
Arslanh recently posted..The Wait is Finally Over, iPhone 5 To Be Announced In a Few Hours
Thanks for sharing your experience with us Arslanh! Quality link building is indeed very crucial to make your blog successful. As for dilemma, continue prioritising links from reputable sites and you will soon earn fantastic results. Just be patient!
Brilliant tips on how to optimise given that things have changed so much in the SEO world. We just need to be careful in what we do and take extra precaution. Thanks for pointing out these steps.
Shalu Sharma recently posted..Top winter destinations of India
Thanks Shalu! I appreciate your insights, especially your advise on being careful and taking extra precautions in everything we do online. Great idea!
In this post-penguin world, one should think more about “content marketing”, “relationship building” and “brand exposure”. Everything else will fall in place.
Joshua recently posted..Mobile and Desktop SEO – Differences at a Glance
Hi Joshua. Agreed. Thanks for leaving a comment.
When it comes to getting links it is important to keep an eye on your anchor text diversity. Too many links with exactly the same anchor text can cause problems.
Shaun recently posted..Google AdWords Optimisation
Yes Shaun, that is right. Thanks for sharing!
100% agree with the above comment. Google is testing out its new algorithm and wants the search environment to be healthy. Quality content creators building a genuine relationship with loyal readers is what they expect.
Srivathsan G.K recently posted..Why I Use Google Apps 2-Step Verification
Hi. You make a good point.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Seeing the steps laid out helps a lot. Because my site is an ecommerce site, I have had a difficult time getting relavant links
Thanks. I’m glad you found it helpful!
Yes, Google is giving value to quality back links as compare to quantity. If you have the back links from related niche authority websites with high page rank, it will definitely boost your page rank.
Deepak @ Silver Updates recently posted..Silver Updates and Intraday Tips, 18 Sept 2012
Hi Deepak. Yes, I agree with the points you made.
Thanks for sharing your insights.
Emma, great to see your guest post getting so many comments. Also, I really appreciate that you are replying. Thanks.
Hi Shamelle! Thanks so much!
I’m delighted to see that there are responses as well.
There are a lot of ‘what to do post-penguin’ articles out there and many are misleading. This is a really good one, and coming from a different angle than many other posts out there. Thanks.
FMurphy recently posted..DIY USB Oscilloscope Kit for PC
Hi!
Thank you! I’m glad you liked my post!
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Most of the information are good but I read before but something that really worth landing this page is the presentation of article.
It written in very well order, step by step depending on topic importance.
Nice share….:-)
Ayan recently posted..Facebook, Skype, Twitter and New Application for Windows Phone 8
Hi Emma
Interesting post…we recently used one of the biggest SEO companies in the Uk and their main strategy was…article distribution!
We couldn’t believe it but it goes to show the amount of mis-information out there after all, too much article distribution is what got one of our sites punished by Google in the first place!
chris davison recently posted..What if I can’t repay my loan?
Well this is one of the nice post I am reading about the penguin update of google as there are many posts which have some ideas on it but this one got good information.
Jamy Hoster recently posted..A Webhosting Unlimited Package Covers Your Every Need
Thanks for sharing an important information with us really helpful after the updation of google algorithm a systematic approach is a must for successful SEO campaign
darren sam recently posted..Achieving Accreditation Accolades