|
According to Google`s Distinguished Engineer, Matt Cutts,
this will be a major update to Panda. During
remarks at the SMX West conference, Cutts
said, “The update will be significant and
one of the most talked about Google algorithm
updates this year.”
Panda.
Panda was first released
in February 2011, and was designed to punish
websites that have unnatural inbound link
profiles and spammy web content. For some
sites, the Panda update created a 98% drop
in inbound traffic to their site.
The Surge.
But
before they dropped off the cliff in search
rankings, there was a surge in traffic to
their site. What was going on? Google was
testing the site by sending traffic there,
and watching for people bouncing off the
pages. When people bounce, it means your
site isn`t relevant.
Bounce.
A bounce is when someone
clicks from a Google search results page
to a site like yours, and then uses the
“Back” button within a few seconds, because
they didn`t find what they were looking
for. Bounces are bad — it means that the
search result that Google displayed wasn`t
relevant. Some bounces are normal. Too many
though, and Google will move you down in
the rankings.
Maybe
Nothing To Worry About?
If you have well-written content on your site,
high-quality websites that link to your
website, and HTML code on your site that
doesn`t confuse search engines, you`ll likely
be okay. It`s even possible that you`ll
benefit from this update.
Shady
SEO? Worry.
But
if you have a site that has a bad inbound
link profile or you`re using shady SEO tactics,
you may want to pay attention to your site,
and do this quickly.
Examine
Your Bounces.
The place I would recommend starting: look at your Google
Analytics, and find the pages with the highest
bounce rates. Change these pages to add
well-written content, more engaging calls
to action, and additional internal links
to get a site visitor to explore more of
your site. Create pages with “need to know”
information instead of pages with “nice
to know” information. Need to know content
includes things that will make someone`s
life better, faster, cheaper, easier, help
them save money or time, and avoid pain
and embarrassment.
The
Summary:
Until the new update is released, there`s no way to know
what will happen. But we`ll be watching…
|
