OMG Google Broke The Interwebz!
Two significant search updates within a week? Low blow Google…
Google rankings are having a bit of a shuffle to the encore of wails from frustrated webmasters and repeated threats to move to Bing. Oh, if only it was that easy! Here in the UK, Bing is the equivalent of opening up shop in a small village with no pub.
So, there was Panda 3.5 update at the end of last week (19th) and a Penguin this week. A few more and we’ll have a zoo.
The Google Rankings Zoo…
Panda first roared last year and is run periodically. It’s more like a filter than an actual algorithm change. It’s aim is to rid the Google rankings of low quality sites. If you’re bit by a Panda it affects the whole site not just individual pages.
Penguin is new and it’s designed to combat web spam – sites that keyword stuff, spin content or have unusual linking patterns. You know those ones you still see around, for example – putting all their target keywords in the footer so that the footer of the page is often longer than the page itself…
The thing is, a lot of small business websites I come across use these low quality techniques.
Sometimes it’s through ignorance – they’ve heard throwing in as many keywords as possible helps with ranking, or duplicating pages across their site helps ranking.
Other times it’s because they’ve hired people to optimise their website who have used techniques that deliberately break Google’s quality guidelines – because they WORKED to rank websites. It’s payback time now…
With all these changes in search going on, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. I mean, not everyone even wants to know all the ins and outs of Google’s search rankings.
7 Simple Steps to Local Google Rankings
The good news for local websites is most of the time, you really don’t need to know all the ins and outs or have over the top keyword stuffed sites with massive link building campaigns.
Google will try to serve local results. So stick to their Webmaster Guidelines and use these 7 simple steps to Local Google rankings…
- Get your business details on the local directories
- Claim your Google Places page
- Have a website with a blog, written for readers not for robots using keywords responsibly
- Review and see if you need more work
- Blog and share your content
- Continue adding your business details to directories, review sites and strategic websites
- Review and repeat
As the meer cat says – simples!
Simple, but not always easy to do.
How can I help you?
Click to discover more about my Google Local Package and other services.
What are your thoughts on the recent Google search changes to combat low quality and spam websites? Your comments welcome below.
Panda image credit – DBKing Penguin image credit – N Gould Meer cats – found on my comp, original author unknown
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