B3 Seminar: Understanding Google Updates - Tim Grice

Taming Panda & Penguin

Taming Panda & Penguinby Tim Grice


SEO Turbulence


Google’s On-going Clean Up2000

• Toolbar PageRank Launched

2003

• Florida Update - The Death of Keyword Stuffing• Cassandra – Death to Hidden Links and co-owned domains

2004

• Austin Update – Hidden Text and Meta Tag Stuffing

2005

• Jagger Update – Devaluation of low quality links (reciprocal links & link farms)• Nofollow to control outbound links

2009

• Vince – The Brand Update• Rel Canonical – Duplicate Clean Up

2010

• Bing & Google Confirm Social Signals are used in Algorithm

2011

• PANDA!!

2012

• Unnatural Links / Penguin / Blog Networks


SEO Changed• Low quality content is actively being penalised• Unnatural links are been devalued and causing penalties• Anchor text manipulation is being actively penalised

Google are getting better at detecting quality and removing spam


Panda• Detects low quality content algorithmically

• Duplicate• Scraped • Re-written • Spun

• Google want to deliver the best results• Unique, quality user experience• Refreshes every 4 – 6 weeks


Unnatural Links

1

2


Slight Difference

Message 1• Penalty Applied 2 – 3 weeks after the message• Links have to be removed and Reconsideration

submitted

Message 2

• Less serious, may see slight drops in key terms• Should endeavour to remove links and monitor

rankings• Consider reconsideration if rankings/traffic don’t

recover


Penguin• The Over Optimisation Algorithm• 3% of queries affected• Aggressive anchor text• Unnatural link patterns/signals• Aggressive on page tactics

• Keyword stuffing • Hidden text• Manipulative redirects• Cloaking• Manipulative Content


Combating Panda• Conduct a content audit:

• Duplicate content, both externally and internally (copyscape – Google site search)

• Blocking on site duplication with robots.txt and iframes• Rewrite/Remove low quality content• User generated content

• Algorithm runs every 4 – 6 weeks and is based on a threshold• Recovery occurs on next refresh


Panda Hit

• Tends to lower rankings across the board rather than being keyword specific• Look for drops in ‘long tail’ search traffic (Filter visits <10 in Google Analytics)• Attempt to identify ‘types’ of pages that may be causing the problem• Putting problem content on a subdomain seems to aid recovery


Combating Unnatural Links• Look for low quality follow links in your profile that pass weight

and/or anchor text

• Unnatural Links 1 – All links to be removed and reconsideration to be sent via Webmaster Tools

• Unnatural Links 2 – Identify spam links, remove, apply reconsideration only if you have seen negative impact


Link Audit


Link Classification


Unnatural Links Hit

• Rankings relying on low quality links will all drop• Most severe penalties hit with the first batch of messages• Removing links + Reconsideration is the only way to recover


Additional Considerations• Build high value editorial links with brand anchor text

• Use branded email address if possible

• Use pseudonym email address for particularly spammy sites, as a social/PR backlash is possible


Penguin – Link Spam Algorithm• Targets web spam tactics that have been against Google’s guidelines for years

• Looks for unusual linking patterns

• Links in spun or scraped content

• Aggressive anchor text strategies

• Devalues rankings for keywords that have been aggressively targeted


Penguin Hit

• Specific keywords lose rankings • Anchor text manipulation is a significant factor• Remove links and wait for algorithm to update


Removal Process

Contact Form Whois Hosting


Recovery is possible

Panda Recovery


Link Penalty Recovery


301 Redirect?• Will help recover in the short term

• If links aren’t removed penalty will pass 3 – 4 months later

• May consider 404ing redirecting problem pages away from the domain

• Always last resort


Is SEO Dead?


If this is your strategy, YES!


The Right Strategy


SEO Strategy

Locations Optimisation

Outreach

Content Strategy

Authorship

Technical SEO

Google +Editorial Link

Building

Social

Image Optimisation

Blogging

Schema

Video Optimisation


Your Strategy Has To Change


Link Building Isn’t Enough…


Link Profile Architecture• Building links with editorial value

• Perform outreach to facilitate content/social strategy

• Remove poor links

• Balance anchor text with keyword variation

• Actively build brand links


Brand Anchor text Variation


Brand Anchor Text


Variation


Editorial Discretion

“I would draw a little bit of daylight between paid directories that exercise no editorial discretion and those

like Yahoo, who have a high editorial threshold.” Matt Cutts - Feb 2012

We need to be focusing on building links that very few people can get, links that clearly show editorial discretion has taken place.


Summary• Remove duplicate/low quality content

• Remove spam links from your profile

• Send in reconsideration if you have been negatively affected

• Adopt an editorial link building strategy with a high editorial threshold

• Clean up anchor text manipulation and balance profile with brand signals

• Adopt a more holistic strategy incorporating all search products


[email protected]://www.branded3.com/http://www.seowizz.net/@tim_grice

Questions?

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.branded3.com/

http://bivvyseo.com/



B3 Seminar: Understanding Google Updates - Tim Grice

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Transcript of B3 Seminar: Understanding Google Updates - Tim Grice