Pandas, Penguins and Predictions

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Pandas, Penguins and Predictions

Given the guarantee that Google will continually tweak their algorithms, the best way to handle potential impacts is to prepare. Being proactive and anticipating Google’s next move helps protect rankings and your online presence.

Here are some things we believe will become the central focus of future algorithm updates, how they will affect the industry, and suggestions for keeping up with it all.

1.    Over-Optimization: Google intentionally targets websites that try to ruin natural search engine results pages. If you’re trying to manipulate Google for better rankings, think twice. After the most recent Penguin update, plenty of sites paid the price in lowered rankings. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to assume more algorithms in the future will continue to punish overly-optimized websites that try to cheat the system. Play your cards right, or pay the ultimate price.

Sure, saying you should avoid over-optimization is easy, but there’s no exact formula that defines what constitutes too much SEO. However, we do have an idea on how to try to stay on the safer side. A good approach is to continually focus on best practices. This recommendation is not an earth-shattering idea, but we recommend spending time crafting quality content. Also, focus on visitor interactions and essential SEO elements. Don’t go overboard on tools and techniques that attempt to attract unnatural, quick rankings.

2.    Quality: A lot of websites that were hit by the most recent Penguin update were involved in a number of these issues:

o    Comment spam

o    Article marketing sites

o    Guest posting on questionable sites

o    Paid text links

The common theme is punishing low quality content. Google has preached that worthwhile content will naturally attract more links, and future algorithms will continue to encourage others to adopt this philosophy. For us, credibility and quality go hand-in-hand. We recommend building a credible business and website by balancing appropriate content development and promotion as well as link-building. Websites who balance optimization practices with a more user-oriented experience will likely be rewarded in the future.

3.    Engagement: User-experience and engagement are important. Because Google rewards sites that it believes users will find relevant and of value, it is a good guess to think the future of SEO could include high engagement as a factor for rankings. At present, there are no exact measurements to gauge engagement, but we all know nothing with SEO is certain.

As we mentioned above, creating a natural user experience, developing a relationship, and encouraging action could be even more crucial in the future. We suggest continuing to dive into the social aspect of SEO. Be sure to stay actively involved in social networks, comments, and reviews to encourage natural participation from others. By being active on social media platforms, you can expect more visitor engagement on your site.

As much as people fear Google updates, if you aren’t trying to take advantage of the system you shouldn’t stress too much. In the end, the same type of websites will be punished by Panda, Penguin, or any other animal in the future — those who try to take shortcuts.