If you are one of the lucky ones that has not been affected by the Google Panda update, then hold on tight, because your turn might be coming. I believe that this is only one of many updates that Google is going to put into force. This recent Google Panda update has not cleared out all the spam websites that still exist in the search engine results and therefore the job is not finished!
Unfortunately the Google Panda update did not only affect trash websites, but it also affected the largest and most highly regarded websites on the Internet. These websites are so big that it is almost impossible to keep track of the quality of the content that is placed on their websites. I know one of my websites got hit recently, and I do agree that I had old and outdated content that even I consider, not to be great.
When you get hit by the Google Panda update a good percentage of your traffic will be gone in the matter of one day. You will wonder what has happened and investigate by searching in Google. You will see that your content is still exists in the search engines but does not rank anywhere and less you type in a precise title and sometimes even the name of your website as well. It’s like you’ve been sent to the back of the queue, when you have been working so hard to get to the top.
When this actually happened to one of my websites I did not sit back and wonder why, I immediately investigated and found some very valid reasons why I got hit by the Google Panda update.
What kind of content does the Google Panda update target?
- Duplicate content.
- Not enough text on the page.
- No internal or external links to the page.
- Content that requires a qualified person to write.
Check out the Google Webmaster guidelines. Everything that Google expects from a website is listed there. It baffles me when people are continually asking questions about what Google wants and what is the right thing to do when it is all listed there on their website. Go through the guidelines and make sure your website is following the rules.
5 SEO Tips to Fight Back After the Google Panda Update
Analyze your website statistics
You need to find out what keywords you were ranking for before you got hit by the Google Panda update and you can do this by going to Google Analytics. If you were ranking for a particular keyword then I have no doubt that you can rank for the same keyword again. You just need to do a repair job on your rankings.
You can also visit Google Webmaster tools to see if there are any crawling errors or problems with your website site map. The only reason your website is being hit by the Google Panda update is because there is something wrong and you need to find it.
Compare the competition
What websites are still ranking for the keywords that you have dropped out for? Investigate and find out why they are still there and you are not? Have they got better content? Are their pages search engine optimized?
Onpage optimization
Onpage optimization is the only way to tell the search engines what is exactly on your website. Follow my SEO techniques to get your pages up to standard. It is so easy to do onpage SEO but often people neglect it, thinking that their page will just rank in the search engines from pure luck. This can happen, but why leave it to luck when you can be sure to rank well. While doing your Onpage SEO, this is a great chance to define clearly which keywords should be targeted for an individual page or post.
Offpage optimization
We all know about link building and the quickest and most effective way to do this off page optimization is to use Web 2.0 properties in your SEO back linking tactics. I know you are all probably thinking guest posting and blog commenting are your top choices for back linking, however this is too slow for such an urgent situation. You need to get straight back into the search engines as soon as possible.
Check your progress
Go back to the search engines 2 or 3 days after optimizing a particular page will post and see where it is ranking now? If it gets back to its original position then your job is done, however sometimes it might need a bit more work.
Does this method work?
Yes! When I said I got hit by the Google Panda update, I mean really hit. I lost thousands of visitors per day which equated to over 100,000 in a month (more like 120,000). I could not let this happen and I fought back quickly. These are the exact methods I used to get my traffic back. The website is back to normal now, but I am still using these methods to get even more traffic. You do not have to be hit by the Google Panda update to take advantage of these SEO tips.
Twitter: krazzybuddies
says:
Hi Mitz,your seo tips are superb.I think these 5 tips are more than enough to fight back google panda update and bring back the lost traffic.Thanks
Anand recently posted..Make Money By Freelance Websites
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
Thanks Anand
I only came up with these because I was desperate to fix my problem. I just do not want others to go through the same thing! It is a nightmare when you think your business is going to go down the drain…
Mitz Pantic recently posted..Free Google Tools to Use For Your WordPress Website Building Business
Thanks for the heads up. It’s usually suspicion, as well. By reading a blog/website and seeing there isn’t much info on it, or that there is no possibility of that person writing something like that, it’s suspicion that Google looks at. I tend to exit those kinds of sites, when I come across them.
Nice post, I think I need to study the google’s webmasters guide.
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
The Google webmasters guide is so cool! I am living by it!
Mitz Pantic recently posted..Link Wheel Strategies Explained
Twitter: blogmobilepro
says:
I can relate what losing google traffic feels like with what happened to one of my blogs a week ago. My traffic dropped by 60% (google share). I thought I’ve been hit.. But It went back to normal after 5days. I’m not sure what happened and I did nothing to revive it, but I think being more SEO conscious is a good advice. Thanks for the tips.
Heading over to your blog to read more..
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
You are very lucky and maybe you faced a minor glitch. I was not that lucky.. I knew something was wrong when traffic dropped as it had been steady for 3 years.
Mitz Pantic recently posted..Free Google Tools to Use For Your WordPress Website Building Business
This is completely accurate, my blogs with 100% handwritten content blogs are going just as strong if not stronger in the SERP’s, after the update and now beating out one page wonders.
jennith recently posted..How to Enhance Your Look with Pantsuits for Women
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
Yes my content is 100% hand written and I have a few sites where anything I post goes to the top but I guess this one slipped under my radar. I have my eyes open now!!!
Mitz Pantic recently posted..Free Google Tools to Use For Your WordPress Website Building Business
Twitter: sanjaykhemlani
says:
The problem with panda update is that they can’t tell if the site has original content or not. And I’ve heard Panda 2.2 is coming out. We better watch out!
sanji recently posted..Superb Minimalist Design
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
I agree that more Panda is to come as we all know there is still junk in the search results.
Mitz Pantic recently posted..5 Really Awesome CSS3 Tricks
Twitter: NewEraDebt
says:
Awesome tips Mitz.
As much as people are grumbling about the update, I think it is a huge step in the right direction. Even though I am very new to SEO, as a company owner I would get frustrated when our site was ranking pretty well for a keyword and then out of the blue someone jumps over us with a site that they threw together in a few hours, spammed 500 directories for backlinks and then just parked the site ahead of us in google and took the traffic to a site that didn’t come close to delivering the information that people were actually looking for.
It is good that google is focusing on trying to reward the people that are actually providing the content that people are searching for.
Dan Smith recently posted..New Era Debt Solutions Scam or Not
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
Hi Dan
Thanks ..glad you enjoyed them.
Mitz Pantic recently posted..Free Google Tools to Use For Your WordPress Website Building Business
Twitter: JamesMartell
says:
Hi Mitz, great topic.
Although their are no guarantees when it comes to Google but those who are focused on creating well researched, well written useful content should do fine — IF they are also focused on gathering in those always important quality backlinks.
The old adage to focus on the visitor first and the search engine second is always a great plan. And thanks for the reminder on keeping on top of on-page optimization. Thanks for the reminder to stay on top of on-page optimization. It is easy to miss things if you’re not attentive.
I also read your Top 10 On-page Optimization Tips (great site by the way). I agree with them all with the exception of #10. I am curious as to why you would say to “If you link to external pages you should make it a nofollow link.”
http://wordpress-websitebuilder.com/top-10-onpage-seo-techniques-you-need-to-know/
I am curious as to why you say that. For me if the site is worth linking to it should be with a dofollow link. I am curious about your thoughts on this?
Keep up the good works.
James
James Martell recently posted..Affiliate Buzz 206 – How Many Backlinks Do You Need To Earn a 5-Figure Income
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
Hi James
I agree totally that you should link to a website if you think it is great…or even if you have guest posts…but I do not agree with over linking… I guess I should update that post to explain a bit more…
My reason for this is that I believe that for every outgoing do follow link you need to build an incoming link to that page to cover it.. So you should have more incoming than outgoing to rank better and if you have 10 dofollow links leaving a page then you need 10 coming in before you even break even.
Everyone seems to have different ideas about this…but this is just what I do. I tell people that if it works for you then do it!!
Mitz Pantic recently posted..Free Google Tools to Use For Your WordPress Website Building Business
I find a lot of useful information on websites that have copied other people’s material because the Google search engines leads me to them. I don’t have time to find out who is the originator of the material but my guess is that it is probably taken from a new website that has no authority on the net.
Since google not does spider these young sites several hundred times a day it is possible for authority sites to snatch them before Google even sees them and claim them as their own.
I am pretty sure that these older sites are using Twitter to find these new websites and copy pages and upload them to the net a millisecond just after the tweet from the poor newbie.
Looks like Twitter is making life difficult for Google. That’s my opinion.. Maybe I am wrong and don’t know what I am talking about but if I am not, then there is a serious technical issue tied to the microblog
Twitter: ditesco
says:
You are absolutely right about one thing… You don’t have to get hit by Panda to use these SEO tips. Waiting for a hit to happen is a “curative” measure and I am all in for “preventive”, if you know what I mean. What surprises me more is that there are people who still neglect the power of “good” SEO and what it can do for them, regardless of their ulterior motive. SEO is not complicated and it could be done on a step by step basis, as it is suppose to since this is an ongoing process.
Ohh, BTW, and please correct me if I am wrong. I understand that if you get hit by Panda, this affects you on a “website” level and not only for a particular posts, right? All more reason to ensure that those “old” and low quality post be given some maintenance work.
DiTesco recently posted..Best WordPress and SEO Plugins 2011- Take Two
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
Yes it gets you on a website level..not just the bad posts.
I am always working on my websites to improve them…but it is getting big and things get hidden from me or I forget.
Also I did not do SEO in the early days…but in the last few years I see the POWER. I am obsessed with SEO now. I live and breathe it…
Mitz Pantic recently posted..Free Google Tools to Use For Your WordPress Website Building Business
Twitter: woollypigs
says:
Hmm I do not know what I have done wrong since I haven’t noticed anything. Compared to before and after the Panda update. I’m still slowly climbing up on Page Views, Google Page Rank and Alexa Traffic Rank. Which I clearly like
woollypigs recently posted..Vicycle tour of Denmark Part I
Twitter: websiteweekend
says:
I like this “Content that requires a qualified person to write.”
There’s this whole notion on the web and with some bloggings that expertise is unimportant compared to authority.
With the result that there are now a very large number of authorities with very little expertise.
Then again, why develop expertise when there is no reward for it?
Dave Doolin recently posted..Content Strategy for Small Business Bloggers part 1
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
I read this on the actual Google blog..about something written by a non expert. They do take note of the authors bio. I don’t know if this is done manually or auto but if you want to see more info, search on the Google blog. They have examples of what articles are ok and what are not.
This is really hard to pinpoint but it is true that people are writing about subjects they actually know nothing about. For example “losing weight” and curing medical conditions. I guess they will start sorting that out soon.
Mitz Pantic recently posted..Link Wheel Strategies Explained
Twitter: sonnylanorias
says:
Hello,
Great post! Thanks for sharing. Are you still using tools such as AMR and TBS to do article marketing? Hope to hear from you. Thanks again.
~Sonny
Sonny Lanorias recently posted..My Social Media Marketing Best Kept Secret – The Ultimate Leverage
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
Yes I did experiment with spinning and submitting articles but only on a website that I was comfortable to test with and lose.
I stopped doing it and the website has dropped from rankings… I only did it a bit though and the articles spun up to the absolute best! There is no way they looked spun.
I have it on my list to do it again to see if I can bring the site up again.. I would not risk doing this for any of my main websites.
Obviously it worked for this website and I will do it again.
I also want to build links to my web 2.0 links with this…Not too much though…Just another experiment..
Mitz Pantic recently posted..Youtube Video Title Search Engine Optimization
Twitter: dewaldt_h
says:
I agree one hundred percent with these tips.
I have this other awesome page with all you need to know.
http://www.webuildpages.com/blog/google/google-panda-update-content/
Have tested these methods one some of our directory websites and definitely worked.
Dewaldt Huysamen recently posted..Our 9 Most Effective Methods for Motivational Speaking
Dr. Andy Williams quoted a google guidelines page that also stated that they were hitting sites that have an abundance of articles that cover the exact same topic. In other words article directories. Search for some common keywords on ezinearticles and you’ll find hundreds of articles covering basically the same topic. Probably why a lot of marketers saw their traffic from them drop after the Panda Update.
hobbytap recently posted..Lionel Polar Express Freight Train Set – The Popular Book And Movie Come To Life
thanks mitz , i have a website that slapped by panda, i tried all you mentioned above but it didn’t work and i also sent a reconsideration request to Google but no replay i lost all my visitors and my earnings dropped to zero. even the site was page rank 1 but it didn’t help. all I’m doing now is starting from the beginning again
subzero525 recently posted..تحميل برنامج ريل الترنيتف اخر اصدار real alternative
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
There must be an error on your website that has to be fixed first. Go through the Google webmaster guidelines with a fine tooth comb.
Mitz Pantic recently posted..Free Google Tools to Use For Your WordPress Website Building Business
i consulted some webmasters and advised me with some things. i did it and sent a reconsideration request since a week ago but nothing yet. no improvement no reply from Google and nothing till now
subzero525 recently posted..تحميل برنامج ريل الترنيتف اخر اصدار real alternative
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
As long as you find and fix the errors first. Good luck..I hope you get your traffic back!
Mitz Pantic recently posted..EasyAzon Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin
Twitter: BelindasBuzz
says:
Thank you for this article! I learned that Google has a webmaster guidelines (I am reading that now!). I also learned that I need to SEO my blog content (I am a newbie).
Could you explain “dofollow links” and “don’tfollow links” – I will read your article next.
Thank you again!
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
Sure…In the top posts section on my blog there is an article that will explain dofollow and nofollow.. If I try to explain it here we might start a debate and get off the subject of Google Panda.
Mitz Pantic recently posted..EasyAzon Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin
Twitter: junevaa
says:
I don’t what work or not with panda, seems strange, and still like no changes from the old one, the only change is url, spam or not still on air.
macist recently posted..Barack Obama Advises Anthony Weiner Over His Scandals
Hi Mitz, thank you for the tips. Do you think that Quality Raters report can affect how the Panda algorithm works?
webmkm recently posted..Google Panda Update – Consigli & Dritte utili per i SEO
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
I am never too sure what affects the Panda algorithm but I do believe that there are “real humans” helping with the process.
How else can they tell if content is truly valuable or just a bunch of words on a page? I believe that the automated process can only go so far…This is why Google is having so much trouble.
A website can be perfect in every way with backlinks, SEO, no broken links, enough content on every page, great text, excellent structure, and so on, but when you get there it could be a load of junk!
When my website got hit I can confidently say that it deserved the hit as it was getting away with murder, so to speak, and this was not fair. My website is an authority website and it has a standard to live up to. So they gave me a wake up call!!!!!
To tell you the truth, Google needs to get more humans working on this Google algorithm as a machine does not have taste buds and emotions. They cannot feel when someone is an exceptional writer and provides value to their visitors. They are just going on bounce rates and other statistics.
Of course it gets deeper than what I think but I cannot begin to imagine the job Google has in front of it now? Webmasters seem to rely on them to weed out the websites ranking in the search engines that clearly should not be there!
Mitz Pantic recently posted..EasyAzon Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin
We’ve managed to weather Panda pretty well. I think the key was using a lot of different SEO techniques. When you rely too much on one strategy you tend to get burned when these updates occur.
Twitter: wordpresswb
says:
I agree totally. Diversify. This is just what I used to get out of trouble but there is a whole lot more to SEO…
Mitz Pantic recently posted..EasyAzon Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin