We’ve been hearing news that a huge Penguin update on its way! Alongside the expected Panda update, we’re heading for an important month in SEO.
For those people new to our SEO Liverpool blog, who don’t have a clue about what I’m talking about, here’s a little info…
From time to time, Google likes to update its algorithm (the process Google uses to rank websites). As more people report web-spam (websites/organisations that try to artificially fool Google), the responsible team at Google look at the common factors and alter the algorithm accordingly. It’s all about updating to improve search quality.
Penguin Updates
These updates target websites that use keyword stuffing, cloaking and most importantly Link schemes.
Panda Updates
This update has traditionally been about measures of quality, including design, trustworthiness, speed. Google’s new Panda machine-learning algorithm will look for similarities between websites people found to be high quality and low quality. It’s also thought to have a human side, meaning actual people rating aspects of websites.
Although you’d think this wouldn’t be a problem, sometime you can receive a penalty without trying to artificially game the system.
Here are some thoughts and questionable techniques that will/could earn you a penalty.
Thousands of rubbish Links
It really doesn’t take a genius to work out, if you go from zero to five thousand links in a week, you’re spamming (or you’re a viral genius). The simplest play for Google, is to look for unnatural link profiles, this leads to large scale link exchanges that will incur a penalty. If you’ve been in correspondence with an Indian web company who for $40 can get you ten thousand links (not only should you no better) you deserve to be penalised.
Hidden Links in Templates
We think that web companies who hide links in their clients websites, could soon be hit on this one. Time may also be up for the hidden link, one that isn’t seen and hides inside the template. If you’ve commissioned a website that has a link back to their site on each every page, could also see some sort of penalty. We think that the same tidy anchor text, saying Web Design Liverpool in the Root of 200, 30 page sites, will also cause you a headache.
Unrelated Languages
If you’ve got links from sites in foreign languages and their isn’t a reasonable explanation, you’ll be on the naughty list.
Not enough external links
If you don’t have enough external links, you no-follow or try to sculpt your PageRank, could mean you’re in trouble. The simplest explanation is, make the site look natural. One hundred links from PageRank Seven websites and not one from a zero or a one… smells funny. You’ll get hit with a penalty eventually.
Content that is low quality.
Poor text, do you have virtually the same page 30 times? Is their only a sentence on each page?. It’s simple, if a user wouldn’t find it useful, why would a search engine!
Site Adverts
Too many, not a good indicator of quality, especially if they’re just full of links to worthless affiliated websites. Google really, really wants to get rid of these sites from the top pages of its index.
These are just my thoughts on the next update….Good luck.