Google Update - The Google Panda Effect

Google recently did a major algorithm update to their search engines. This update is called the Google Panda Update. It consisted of removing all low quality websites, farm links, duplicate content websites, etc from their index. For example, EzineArticles saw its traffic decrease by almost 75% because people would post low quality content and articles just to get backlinks to their website.

If your website is of good quality and follows all of the Google guidelines, then you shouldn’t worry about the Google Panda Update, it will not affect you. However, if your website does follow all the guidelines and you still got penalized, then it is most probably because you had a lot of inbound links coming from those low quality websites and link farms, and since they got removed from the index, the links have no more value.
In this article, I will be giving you tips on how you could overcome the Google Panda Update if you got affected by it.

Valuable Content

Your website should always contain valuable content that keeps the user thrilled and excited to read more. Your content should be very clear and explanatory about your business or whatever it is your sell or promote. If your website is filled with content but it is very poor content (not unique or of interest to readers), nobody will read it and you won’t get any real benefit from it. It is very important that you write fresh and valuable content. I would suggest to write 2 to 3 new unique articles per week. Make sure that your content is free of typos and grammatical errors.

Usable Content

Even if your website is filled of valuable content but people have trouble understanding the information, then that content doesn’t have much significance. Users tend to like having raw information shown to them and straight to the point content. Always keep the user interested in what you have to say later in your article or future articles.

Unique Content

Make sure that your content is always your own and unique, as in not copied off other sources. One of the biggest issues the internet is facing right now is duplicate content. People tend to use online content and articles to increase amount of content on their website. This is definitely wrong to do as you will not get any benefit from it and possibly even get banned. As long as you create your own unique content, you’re safe from the Panda update.

Backlinks

You must focus your link building on getting high quality backlinks to your website from known and relevant websites. As you know, the Panda Update removed all low quality websites from its index. So if you had backlinks coming from low quality websites those links have no more weight. This is also a reason why your website might have dropped in rankings. If you had a lot of inbound links coming for low quality websites and since they got removed from the index, they are worth nothing. Always keep in mind that quality is far more important than quantity, whether for link building or content creation.

Black Hat

Last but not least, make sure that your website follows all of Google’s guidelines. Black Hat SEO techniques will never be tolerated by Google and since the update, Google has put an even bigger emphasis on this matter. Check your website for any Black Hat techniques that you may have used and rectify them.