SEO Tactics to Tame the Panda

Daniel BianchiniSenior SEO Consultant@danielbianchini

Algorithm updates

23/02/2011Panda/Farmer released in the US, affecting up to 12% of search results.

09/05/2011Panda 2.1 was deemed relatively minor by Google.

23/07/2011It’s unclear whether Panda 2.3 introduced new factors or if it was a simple update.

11/04/2011Panda 2.0 hits all English queries worldwide (not limited to English-speaking countries).

21/06/2011Panda 2.2 update impacts both websites and data.

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12/08/2011Panda goes global except in Chinese, Japanse & Korean.

28/09/2011Panda 2.5 isreleased.

How can I avoid a panda slap?

Flickr – mattjacquitoby - http://goo.gl/drbcs

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Google recommends

you should evaluate all the content on your site and do your best to improve the overall quality of the pages on your

domain. Removing low quality pages or moving them to a different domain could help your rankings for the higher quality

content.

“”

you should evaluate all the content on your site and do your best to improve the overall quality of the pages on your

domain. Removing low quality pages or moving them to a different domain could help your rankings for the higher quality

content.

you should evaluate all the content on your site and do your best to improve the overall quality of the pages on your

domain. Removing low quality pages or moving them to a different domain could help your rankings for the higher quality

content.

you should evaluate all the content on your site and do your best to improve the overall quality of the pages on your

domain. Removing low quality pages or moving them to a different domain could help your rankings for the higher quality

content.

Evaluate all content

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Remove or update old content

Flickr – paulb4uk - http://goo.gl/aloqW

Check user metrics in analytics

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Low page views, high bounce & exit rates = under-performing content

Quality of content

8Image credit - http://goo.gl/3AHi3

Matt Cutts Google Webmaster Tools Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoFf6Kn4K98

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Try to answer Google’s 23 quality questions

Would you trust the information presented in

this article?

Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who

knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?

How much quality control is done on content?

Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive

description of the topic?

Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?

Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual

errors?

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality.html

Thin Content

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<200 words = Thin Content

How do you make great content?

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Addict-o-matic

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Use keyword research tools

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Q&A platforms

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Use social media platforms

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Keyword + inurl:forum

Keyword + inurl:community

Keyword + inurl:blog

Inurl:blog + intitle:keyword

Keyword + intitle:forum

Keyword + intitle:community

Keyword + intitle:blog

Use search parameters to find communities

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Find & attend industry events

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Find the latest information & network with industry bloggers

http://goo.gl/mdsnG

Made Google’s Suggestion...

Now what?

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Duplicate content

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Remove any potential duplicate content issues

Syndicated content

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Reduce the amount of syndicated content used on site

Product feeds

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Create unique product descriptions

Page layout & design

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Improve design & increase content above the fold

Link building

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Social shares & deep page linking

Image credit - http://goo.gl/5QZPe

Can it be done?

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YES!

Hubpages lost in the 1st Panda update

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Previous visibility = 182,704New visibility = 26,099 Loss of = 156,605 (-85,72%)

• Improved the quality of content

• Reduced syndicated content

• Removed thin content

• Moved hubpages on to sub-domains

What have Hubpages done?

Some of the tactics that hubpages used include:

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Hubpages visibility after Panda 2.5

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Previous visibility = 692,107

New visibility = 761,589

Increase = 69,482 (+10%)

Hubpages have more visibility now than before the 1st Panda update

1. Remove low quality content Thin content Underperforming content

2. Create more high quality content Research what users want Answer Google’s quality questions

3. Deep page link building Social sharing

4. Panda can be defeated!

Key takeaways

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Thank you

@danielbianchini