July 16th, 2014

How to Optimize Your Site’s SEO for Google Panda 4.0

SEO Panda 4.0 UpdateWith Google’s latest algorithm update, Panda 4.0Opens in a new window, online marketers, webmasters and business owners are trying hard to understand how this newest change is impacting the performance of their websites in Google’s search results.
Like many of Google’s updates, Panda 4.0 emphasizes high-quality websites and contentOpens in a new window. But what does Google mean by “high quality”? And how can businesses make sure that their websites are in line with Google’s expectations? These tips will help you keep your website fresh and let you maintain visibility in Google’s search results.

Generate Regular, Unique Blog Content
The original Panda algorithm release was focused on penalizing websites with low-quality content (i.e., scraped or copied from other sources) by giving them lower search results. Panda 4.0 continues to prioritize sites that post frequent, high-quality content over those that don’t. So if your strategy has been to copy or duplicate content, then this search update could be hurting your website.
What to Do:
Today, creating website content means more than just changing the copy on your home or product pages. Your website should also have a blog where you can post unique, relevant content about your business, products and services. Then, build a process to create, post and share new content on a weekly basis.
Making sure the content you post is informative and engaging—like how-to articles, images, lists, videos and more—will help Google determine if your site is authoritative and relevant to people searching for your types of products and services. If you don’t have time to produce high-quality content on a regular basis, you should look for a solution that can provide this for you.
Optimize Your Website’s Core Content for Search
The content you publish to your blog is a huge part of what Google looks for in a quality websiteOpens in a new window. But it comes to today’s SEO, quality refers to having a completely optimized experience. That means you should have a mobile-friendly website and content, optimized metadata and semantic markup, and descriptive core content (the content that lives on your home page, product pages, etc.). All of this can impact how effectively Google can index and surface your website to searchers. If your website doesn’t offer a modern, search-optimized experience, then it will be more difficult for you to drive visits from Google searchOpens in a new window in light of Panda 4.0.
What to Do:
If your site’s experience and core content are outdated, you may need a modern, mobile-optimized website designOpens in a new window; not just for SEO, but also to improve visitor satisfaction and drive conversions on your site. In addition, you should audit your site’s metadata (back-end content that’s read by search engines) and core on-page content to ensure it’s optimized for search. That means it features your target keywords, but is written naturally for your audience, not just stuffed with a series of keywords. This big mistake could get your site penalized in the search results.
Succeed in SEO With a Quality Website and Content
The good news is: by rewarding high-quality websites with increased visibility in search results, the Google Panda 4.0 update will work in favor of businesses that prove to be a unique and useful resource to their consumers.
You need to determine whether your current website and content strategy are helping or hurting your performance in SEO. If you already have a high-quality site, then continuing to create relevant content will help you drive even more visitors from Google’s organic search results. But if not, you need to invest in a modern website and regular, quality content that can make your business an asset both to local consumers and to Google.

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