How Google Panda has affected Search Engine Optimisation

The Google Panda update has impacted the search engine optimisation strategies of many Internet marketers. People today are now having difficulties in ranking their sites because the update now focuses on ranking sites that have completely unique content, high pagerank, and many web pages of high quality content.

How does Google identify High Quality content?

The Google algorithm now focus more on the visitor experience on a web page to determine its ranking, rather than the traditional On Page factors and Off Page Factors.  This basically means

  1. How long has a visitor spent on a page?
  2. Has the visitor viewed other pages on the website?

How long has a visitor spent on a page

By determining how long a visitor has spent on a web page, Google estimates how useful the page was for the keyword that was entered into the Google Search Engine.  It makes sense!  If a visitor only spends a second or two on a page, then it is a reasonable assumption that the page did NOT deliver content that engaged the user and so the web page should not be ranked very highly.  Conversely if visitors spend a lot of time on a particular page, then it is safe to assume that the visitor found the page useful for the search term.

The longer a visitor remains on a web page, the higher Google will rate that particular page

Has the visitor viewed other pages on the website?

Google can also rate a particular website, based on the number of different pages that a visitor spends on a website.  This makes sense too!

The more pages that a visitor looks at when on the site, the higher Google will rate the website as a whole

How has this affected traditional Search Engine Optimisation?

A lot of the existing SEO principles still apply, and a page will still be ranked on its "On Page"  factors (whats on the page) and "Off Page" factors (inbound links).  We have touched on important "On Page" factors, however the following are simple guidelines will help

Existing "On Page" factors that are still effective

  1. Ensure pages have 2-3 % keyword density
  2. Ensure title and header tags contain the keywords
  3. Have at least on outbound link that uses the keyword as the anchor text
  4. Ensure that images have the keywords in the  "alt" tag

New "On Page" factors that must be observed

  1. Pages should be slightly longer length (700+ words instead of 500 words)
  2. Make use of interactive features such as audio and video to enhance the visitor experience
  3. Ensure that the content is factual, informative and exceptional quality
  4. Remove any pages of poor or unreadable content

Existing "Off Page" factors that are still effective

  1. Ensure pages that link to your webpage are relevant to the content of the page
  2. Ensure pages that link to your webpage are ranked highly
  3. Ensure pages that link to your webpage use the keyword as the anchor text

New "On Page" factors that must be observed

  1. Articles that link to your site should be of greater  length (700+ words instead of 500 words)
  2. Remove links that carry little or no relevance to your webpage (eg profile links)
  3. Utilise Social Media (Facebook, Twitter) to get a following to your website

Panda is there to help you

Google are continually refining the algorithms that are used to rank web pages and websites.  Panda yet another challenge to SEO providers to help their clients get the maximum return on investment for websites, but fundamentally, Panda is a good thing.  The internet is full of poor quality webpages that are purely designed to influence the search engines to get pages ranked well, and a number of SEO providers have used the Google algorithms to their advantage to help get rankings but at the detriment of providing good quality content.  

Panda should have a positive effect on the web pages that rank well by ranking them more on user behavior  than on artificial factors tha some SEO providers have used in the past. 

Number One Rule:  The visitors experience on your webpage is the most important thing to consider

 

For more information on Google's guidelines for creating quality content, see the Google website (a new window will open)

See  Google Quality Guidelines