Google Penguin.

So now you have got your head around Google Panda, the high up ones decide to throw Penguin into the mix. Like I have said previously, Google is not your target market, so you should really be thinking about these algorithms as an after thought… But Penguin is slightly different if you are that sickening spammy site – you won’t be able to ignore it.

So, what is Google Penguin?

You may have read my rant about paying for backlinks – How NOT To Get Backlinks – getting links the ‘illegal’ way and over optimising your site is what Penguin is crashing down on… Websites that have loads of disgusting spammy links pointing back to them, probably from irrelevant sites. Creating backlinks is all part of the game – there is no need to cheat… As I’ve said previously, people who cheat get found out.

So what can I do to avoid being hit by the Penguin of all penguins?

• Well, firstly, don’t pay for backlinks… Just don’t get sucked into it because now you will almost definitely be wasting your money.
• Keep your anchor text linking under control – use whole sentences as links instead of specific keywords.
• Don’t turn your site into a breeding ground for advertisements or pop-ups, this effects Google’s reputation also if they are accidentally directing people to these sites, so they don’t want you.
• Lastly, and most importantly, link your website because it will be helpful to your target market, not because it will get you higer rankings in Google – Try to think would I really be back-linking this much if the concept of SEO didn’t actually exist?

Google Panda.

If you have just entered the world of marketing and SEO-ing, then you might be thinking “What is all this Panda and Penguin malarkey?” And I was the same, some random animals cropping up in discussions and news feeds got me confused. In a few months time a whole zoo may have found it’s way into Google HQ…

What is Google Panda?

Quite simply, Google Panda is a change in the usual set of rules (algorithm) in order to determine a sites ranking. It is aimed at getting the higher quality sites out there up to the top of the search engine results and BANISHING the lower quality sites to the bottom.

So, what is a high quality site?

Google have released a list of important factors that qualify for being ‘high quality‘ and you can read that full list here. I am going to pull out a few of the important ones to be thinking about in order to adjust to this new change in algorithm… I think it is important to note that the points that I am going to lift from the list are paramount anyway to the success of your business – You don’t need a change in algorithm to have to focus and work hard on optimising your site for a search engine.

• Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend? – Even before Google released this Panda business, this should be going through your mind everytime you write a post or edit your site.

• Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors? – Massive error, read about my hatred for spelling mistakes or have a read of What Costs Millions in Lost Online Sales…?”

• Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced? – Remember, if one part of your page isn’t up to scratch, then it will effect the whole website.

• Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines? – If you are working hard to connect to your customers, then they will find you.

Remember who your Target Market is – because in most cases, it’s not Google.

Understanding PageRank & Creating Backlinks

Even though the title of this post is ‘Understanding PageRank‘, you don’t really need to understand it, you just need to know it exists. It is basically a set of rules, used by Google, to determine how important your website is and therefore how high it should be placed in the list of results. It’s all measured by a massive equation that I wish I invented. Wikipedia give you a ‘simplified’ description of how it works, but I still just don’t get it.

It works on some sort of points system, the more points you have, the higher up you are. I probably have 0 points right now, but the good news is, there are ways in which to get these points, treat it like a race and you want to WIN.

The main way of accruing ‘points’ is to create backlinks (see dictionary –>), links which connect your website to other sites with a higher PageRank than you will automatically push you higher. Backlinks can come easily and without much effort, if the content of what you’re writing is good, other websites would want to link to yours. Especially websites who are writing the same content as you, this can be most valuable. But, don’t be lazy about it, put your back into creating backlinks!

• Post on forums about your topic.
• Comment in other blogs (similar to yours).
• Do a bit of guest blogging.
• Be pro-active.

You will be doing the other site a favour by adding to their content, but doing yourself a favour by creating a backlink to your site and improving traffic. Always include a relevant anchor text, this way Google and other search engines know that this is what the webpage is about and is therefore more likely to rank it higher… For example:

A good site I have just searched and read is Kharim Tomlinson’s Awesome Backlink Strategy.

Remember – Put your back into creating backlinks!