How to Benefit From the Recent Google Updates!
While it’s forever been shouted from the virtual rooftops that “Content is King”, many of us never truly took Google seriously. Until now. Since the recent search engine algorithm updates throughout the last couple of years including Panda (and its subsequent offspring) Penguin as well as others, it’s become ever more clear that Google has finally reached the stage where it’s able to enforce what it said, and that is nowhere more evident than in the latest incarnation of the Google Webmaster Guidelines.
So how does this impact small business?
To put it in a nutshell, this means that we are to prize quality over quantity, and strive to ensure that our content isn’t there merely to collect a link back to our pages, but to contribute worthwhile and meaningful grist for the conversation. This flight to quality signifies that we have to abandon excessive, low-quality SEO for a more organic, long-tern qualitative approach to search engine optimization and link building. However, it doesn’t mean that we avoid attempting to promote our pages with link building. It’s the link schemes, link farms and manipulative machinations that Google is seeking to get rid of.
What to do and what to refrain from doing!
- Create awesome content – Craft content that people are eager to both read and share. Lend your distinct voice to the conversation and don’t be afraid to ruffle feathers!
- Make it shareable – Since Google is now making social signals an element of the search algorithm it’s very important to make sure that folks have the capability and want to share your content. It can make a difference in your rankings.
- Don’t use content automation – Google is getting better and better at finding and exiling automated content. Since most of the time this kind of spun or rehashed text is instantly recognizable as such, just decide to avoid it entirely.
- Make your links diverse – Don’t use the very same keyword text in all of your links. It’s not natural and won’t help you rank for that keyword. Make use of keywords, naked URLs, some “click here’s” and other common terms.
- Don’t employ linking schemes – Back in the day you could get away with this, and there are many who would tell that it is still so, even so the cost of being found out is high. Do you actually want to build your business on that?