Google’s most recent Panda update sent shockwaves across the web-o-sphere with popular sites such as eBay, ask.com and yellowpages.com taking huge dips in traffic. The Panda 4.0 mirrors Google’s previous updates and is an effort by Google to ensure that it’s users only get access to the best content, which means sites (whether big or small) duplicating content or not providing value to their users will take a hit and see a drop in rankings. Although this update is said to have affected large companies and sites more than the small enterprises, it has also ended up providing an opportunity for small sites to rank well if they possess high quality and genuine content.
The Panda update is not just a warning for sites with poor content strategy, it is a clear reminder for companies to re-visit and revamp their SEO strategies in order to acquire and maintain search engine visibility and rankings. Here are some steps that marketers can take to deal with this update:
Limit Content Syndication
Most sites that got affected were ones which are heavily into content syndication and duplication. Having said that, sites such as Buzzfeed benefited from the update, most likely because of the addition of own takes on content published which is a refreshing aspect. Try and limit the amount of content syndication, and instead produce original and refreshing content that is informative and is of value to your readers.
Get Rid of Duplicate Content
Any duplicate content on your sites, get rid of it right now. Infact all those old pages which are neither seeing engagement nor traffic should be eliminated altogether before Google imposes a huge penalty on them.
Use No-Index and No-Follow Tags
This update does not mean that you should not link to other relevant sites but one practice that does help is using no-index or no-follow tags stops Google from indexing them. Google penalizes sites that appear to be influencing rankings for other sites and this practice will ensure that your site does not get affected.
Go Easy on the Advertising
If your sites have more advertising material than content, then it is time to re-think your strategy and cut down on the advertising.
With each update, Google is trying to ensure that users only get access to high quality enriching content. The only way to make sure that one does not lose out on precious traffic and leads with future updates is if your SEO strategy mirrors that, and puts your audience and content first.
