There's been a bit of panic in Internet marketing circles lately. SEO experts around the world have been blogging about changes they noticed in search ranking patterns, and some of them have been somewhat panicking.
Although some worry is normal when something as important as Google changes drastically, the best response is never panic. As professional SEO experts and internet marketers, we can stay ahead of these changes and help our clients adjust to them.
This update is being nicknamed "Penguin 2.0", which means that it's a major update. Here's a bit more information about what we know of the update for the moment.
What will change? An overview
Well, according to Search Engine Journal, there will be several major changes.
In a nutshell, most of these changes have to do with unscrupulous techniques that shady internet marketers have developed to get around Google's guidelines. Some techniques like
- Paid links
- Advertorial pages
- Spam of all kinds
- Keyword stuffing (a personal nemesis of mine)
will be more severely penalized.
On the positive side, Google will reward
- Organic, natural links
- Secure, non-spammy sites
- Authority and expertise
The goal, as it always is with Google, is to provide the most relevant and informative pages for any search term. Being relevant and informative is hard work, but it's not rocket science.
What you can (and should always) do
As a website owner, the one thing you should focus on is, and has always been, interesting, relevant, informative and factual content. Google rewards this work every time. Outstanding content gets more links. More links improve your ranking and increase your authority.
Unfortunately, the work of producing that kind of content can't be done once and then left to its own devices. Constant updating through blogs or news, participating in social media (watch for things shared on Google+ gaining more importance in search rankings) and working every day to be helpful and informative is still the most prudent and effective strategy.
The Internet changes constantly, and so we must change with it. If you feel like your search rankings may be hurt by this update, it's not too late to make the necessary changes to control the damage.
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