« Return to Blog Homepage
16

Google Panda 4 SEO Tips for Update

Filed Under » Tagged »

Posted by on May 16 2011

Google Panda Update is Not As Complex As You May Think

The Bottom Line to SEO Best Practices in 2011

I’ve been following all the coverage on the recent Google Panda update, which represents a significant update to Google’s search algorithm, affecting how many websites are ranked by Google.  I must say my head is spinning from all the chatter. The amount of coverage, opinions and speculation around what’s really in Google’s latest algorithm update and what’s not almost resembles a debate among super intellectuals.

I don’t consider myself a super intellectual. My brain works this way. I consume facts then break them down into a business-centric, bottom line manner.

As CEO of an Internet marketing company responsible for SEO service delivery for B2B clients, I want to know what is really the impact of the Panda update to our clients? That’s the bottom line I care about.

To help me get this perspective on the Panda update, I turned to Matt Cutts, a senior engineer at Google, and widely recognized as the voice of Google to the SEO industry.  The Panda update was announced February 24, 2011. On March 7, 2011, Matt Cutts published the video below. I must admit, it’s a little odd that Matt doesn’t even mention the Panda update in this video.

Matt answers a question from an inhouse SEO professional at a large company who wants to know what he should pay most attention to in 2011. Matt gives him four guidelines to follow. In summary he suggests that SEO professionals sweat these four details:

  1. Optimizing for speed. A faster loading site is a signal tracked and rewarded by Google for page ranking.
  2. Having CMS control for good internal linking from relevant keywords.
  3. Educate management to get buy in for investment in SEO best practices for best ROI.
  4. Social media marketing. Spread content across Twitter, social bookmarking sites, etc., to create more inbound links. Google is tracking social media links as a signal for search engine page ranking (SERP).

These four tips from Matt Cutts represent a good summary of the most important factors for good SEO results in 2011.

 

Since my brain translates technical details into its business meaning, here’s another spin that we probably won’t hear from Matt Cutts.

Google is in intense competition with Microsoft Bing for search engine market share and with Facebook for mindshare, particularly in social marketing. So, in the end what Google wants is that you and I use their product and to be satisfied using it. The more time we spend in Facebook, the less time we might spend searching in Google’s search engine, particularly since you can search through Bing in Facebook.

That’s why these four best practices for SEO in 2011 make a lot of sense to me. I’m not going to sweat details such as the impact of bounce rates on Google’s algorithm (a source of debate surrounding the Panda update).

I want our clients to sweat the four factors outlined by Matt Cutts because these are tangible elements of an SEO plan that can provide real SEO value.

At the end of the day, our B2B clients want sales leads. They depend on us to deliver SEO results that produce qualified sales leads. Period. So, I’m going to sweat the stuff that moves the needle toward this one bottom line goal.

These four SEO guidelines offered by Matt Cutts of Google sum it up nicely for me and for our clients.

What about you? Do these four guidelines clarify SEO best practices for you in 2011?

16 Comments to Google Panda 4 SEO Tips for Update

  1. by spreety

    On May 16, 2011 at 5:57 pm

    Thanks Bernie. To implement the above, I use the Rank Ace Audit Site, which includes an HTML validator, Link Health, Meta extractor, and the Rank Ace Social Meta, to build the Open Graph tags for social media.

    External links: http://www.rankace.com/AuditSite.aspx http://www.rankace.com/WebmasterTools.aspx

  2. by ValpoCreative

    On May 23, 2011 at 8:52 pm

    Excellent article & video, I want to give props to the writer of this article for making this simple to understand and providing us with actions to take. While I have been reading about the panda update & recent social search Google has integrated to the algorithms, none of the articles that I read until now has provided me with actions to take, just great insight, thank you..

  3. by FindandConvert

    On May 24, 2011 at 11:02 am

    Glad you found this blog post informative…
    Bernie

  4. by ValpoCreative

    On May 25, 2011 at 10:08 pm

    Very guiding, thank you again

  5. by freezonal

    On June 2, 2011 at 9:03 am

    my website was hit badly by panda since i used the wordpress plugin seo super comments. i removed the plugin and did a 301 redirect to all comment pages to its original article page, but still its effect is there on my website.

  6. by FindandConvert

    On June 2, 2011 at 3:14 pm

    Did you check in the WordPress forum to ask if other users of this SEO plugin had the same experience?

  7. by eugene

    On July 4, 2011 at 11:45 am

    You have the perfect Idea, But the impact of bounce rate of a website also matters for me. because its working

  8. by Alan Spicer

    On July 10, 2011 at 9:13 am

    I will be using these tips and tricks for my company and my clients :) <a href="http://www.spicerdesigns.com” target=”_blank”>www.spicerdesigns.com – Thank you :)

  9. by weather vane

    On November 15, 2011 at 7:35 am

    Does your site have a contact page? I'm having a tough time locating it but, I'd like to shoot you an e-mail. I've got some recommendations for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great website and I look forward to seeing it improve over time.

  10. by Antione Vanderploeg

    On January 16, 2012 at 6:09 pm

    I wanted to construct a simple word in order to say thanks to you for the remarkable steps you are writing at this site. My particularly long internet investigation has at the end been paid with incredibly good facts to write about with my good friends. I ‘d claim that many of us website visitors are undoubtedly blessed to exist in a fabulous place with so many lovely individuals with very beneficial tricks. I feel really lucky to have discovered your weblog and look forward to tons of more pleasurable times reading here. Thanks once more for all the details.

  11. by Eboni Zahnen

    On February 8, 2012 at 8:07 am

    This might not be the best place to inquire about this, but I am looking for a pest management provider within the pittsburgh region and have no method to find out who’s the best. I located this business that’s definitely close to me and wished to see if anybody has any reviews on them. Spectrum Pest Control, 3058 West Liberty Avenue, Dormont, PA 15216 – (412) 446-2802

  12. by Weston Easly

    On February 9, 2012 at 2:00 pm

    This may not be the ideal place to ask this, but I am trying to find a pest control business inside the pittsburgh area and have no way to find out who’s the best. I uncovered this company that is truly close to me and wished to see if anyone has any evaluations on them. Spectrum Pest Control, 3058 West Liberty Avenue, Dormont, PA 15216 – (412) 446-2802

  13. by Release Date Guru

    On February 28, 2012 at 5:37 pm

    Does anyone have an updated list for some social bookmarking sites ?

  14. by programming-company

    On April 9, 2012 at 6:56 pm

    this seems very interesting. i saw a similar implementation somewhere though…

Trackbacks

  1. 5 Ways to Get Employee Participation in SEO : Inbound Marketing Strategies | Bernie Borges
  2. The Best free classifieds Site

Leave a Reply

You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

By submitting a comment here you grant Find and Convert a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution. Inappropriate or irrelevant comments will be removed at an admin's discretion.