Some points on the Google Panda Algorithm update:

• Largest update and algorithm chances in over 8 years.
• Affected mostly Article, Content Syndication, Price comparison and some Web 2.0 sites.

Google Negatives

• Excessive Advertising on a site e.g. banner ads, text ads and AdSense.
• Excessive outbound links on your site pointing to other domains.
• Individual pages can bring down an entire site. Website’s need spring cleaning and watch out for:
• Old dated content
• Poorly written content
• Dead URL’s
• Duplicate content on your site. This is a site killer and more so now than ever. Duplicate content in syndication is not so much, but on the same domain, it is!
• Single source back-links from a limited number of domains. Link/Domain diversity is more important now than ever.

Google Positives

• Unique content for your site, no plagiarizing or poaching content. (site killer warning)
• Video content for your site is a must.
• Social media for your website is more important than ever. Synchronize your social media pages to your website.
• Including a blog on your site is very important helping visibility through fresh new content on a regular basis.
• Increase content and article length to 300+ words, no less.
• Register domains 3+ years

For those who are new to Search Engine Marketing and needing a quick explanation of the Google Page layout, here are a few minutes explaining how the page layout works and what to pay attention to.

Methods of search engine optimization or SEO can basically be divided into three major groups, according to whether search engines find them acceptable or otherwise. Search engines base their indexes on logic which is why certain SEO techniques work well with search engine logarithms while others do not. That is why you need to differentiate which techniques are considered legitimate from those which will get you penalized or even banned. The three major groups are known as the White-Hat SEO methods, Grey-Hat SEO methods, and Black-Hat SEO methods.

1. White-Hat SEO Techniques

White-hat SEO techniques are those which are recognized by SEO’s and all major search engines as legitimate methods of optimization. Aside from the fact that using these SEO methods will never get you banned, white-hat SEO techniques maintain your website’s integrity as well as increase your search engine page ranking in the long run.

a. Content Creation

With content creation, we are referring to creating the kind of content that your site visitors will consider as well-written, original, relevant, and appealing. Basically speaking, the more your website’s content is regularly updated and rich in information, the more valuable your website will appear to search engines, thus increasing your chances of moving forward in the search listings. Aside from that, webmasters who are looking for websites to link to need to see that your content is actually worth linking to in the first place. Also, the extra pages that you get can target the additional keywords that are relevant to the page topic. Quality content requires much time and effort, but the long-term results are supremely worth all the trouble.

Another twist to this method is writing content for other people’s websites. Write interesting, relevant forum posts, articles, etc. that can make other readers want to post them on their sites. This helps build better links to your website, without having to give a reciprocal link back.

b. Reciprocal Linking and Internal Linking

With reciprocal linking, you have to remember that exchanging links must be done intelligently and with websites who have good reputations and have content that is related to your site’s own topics. Avoid linking to penalized websites and industries and instead, focus on websites that contain your target keywords. Strengthening your site’s relevancy through association will help your website succeed in the search indexes.

Internal linking, on the other hand, is all about adding text links to at least your homepage, near its bottom. These links should enable the site visitor to click through to each of your main internal webpages, together with a sitemap that can show your internal pages.

c. Site Optimization

Everything about your site must work hand in hand to maximize your website’s chances of exposure on search engines on the web. Think about creating a website that does not hinder conveying your message to your readers or hamper your content’s search engine efficacy. Maintaining the salability and message effectiveness of your website is key in site optimization.

2. Grey-Hat SEO Techniques

Techniques that belong to the grey-hat category are legitimate when properly utilized. However, these are often abused by unscrupulous SEO’s and webmasters. Although your website will not likely get banned from using grey-hat tactics, caution must still be exercised when using them. Abuse of these techniques will have you penalized by search engines, especially if your vigilant competitors report your activity to them, thus removing you from the competitive scene.

a. Cloaking

There are two arguably legitimate uses of cloaking. One is by reserving information for visitors while presenting different content to the search engines since you have a “Members Only” section. The second case is when an image-based website uses text to represent each of its webpages. As long as the text is an exact description of the images and the page, then it is considered as legitimate. It is best to ask permission first from each search engine in order to fully explain your reasons when planning to use any of these forms of cloaking.

b. Paid Links

Purchase links for your website only if your intention is to purely advertise your site’s products or services. Purchasing links to gain higher link-popularity will get your website penalized or your links discounted for abuse.

c. Duplicate Content

Search engines now have filtering mechanisms which locate pages that have content that are duplicated or extremely similar with each other. Once found, the duplicated content is eliminated. Competitors will also report their rival sites for duplicating content. In both instances, the erring website’s rankings will be penalized as result. Only resource websites are immune to this sanction since search engines allow them to have duplicate content since they serve as article indexes.

3. Black-Hat SEO Techniques

Under no circumstances must you be tempted to use black-hat techniques. Large scale abuse of these methods has caused major search engines to instantly ban and/or penalize users of these shady SEO tactics. Although black-hat techniques will increase your ranking quickly, your website will eventually be at the losing end since you will sooner or later be severely penalized or worse, permanently banned.

a. Keyword Stuffing

This is when an SEO or webmaster repeatedly puts a targeted key phrase on a page in an attempt to fool search engines into thinking that the words are relevant. The text is often in very tiny font size and placed at the bottom part of a webpage.

b. Hidden Text

Similar to keyword stuffing, this technique only differs in the fact that the text’s font color is exactly or almost the same as the webpage’s background (which can also be an image file).

c. Cloaking

This method of presenting information to search engines that is different from the actual information that human visitors get to see comes in many forms and is abused by many unethical webmasters and SEO’s. Again, this is risky since even if the search engines fail to detect your illegitimate methods, your competitors will surely report you as soon as they figure out your scheme.

d. Doorway Pages

Frequently generated by software and automatically added to a website, doorway pages are created for the exclusive purpose of targeting a certain keyword phrase/s to lure visitors and search engines and yet have little or no relevancy at all to any helpful topic. Usually the page only exists to contain the phrase, hoping that the visitor will click through to the homepage.

e. Redirects

Redirects are used to automatically transport visitors to a webpage, whether or not the webpage has something relevant or informative to offer them. Redirecting is used in complementing doorway pages.

f. Duplicate Sites

Created as a way to throwback search engines, webmasters using this method duplicate a site that they were promoting and put it online. They think that doing so will make the duplicate site outrank their original website and take their sales.

g. Interlinking

Linking together multiple websites created by a single owner to build overall link popularity is a black-hat technique. It was devised as incoming links became vital in boosting search engine page rank. Difficult for search engines to detect, users can only detect this technique if multiple websites end up having the top places on the search engine indexes.

Profitworx is a White-Hat SEO Company helping thousands of clients world wide increase their Organic Search Engine rankings through professional SEO Services and skilled SEO Consultants.

This article inspired by Beanstalk.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is not Website Design, but programatical enhancements to your website. It is a necessary element of any successful website. There are On Page factors that need to be optimized as well as Off Page factors. On Page refers to all website pages. Off Page refers to external factors influencing your website.

Without Search Engine Optimization, there is no way that internet users or customers can find your website, unless you advertise offline using radio, tv or print media. But even with offline advertising, you are hitting a broad audience not specifically targeted to your products or services, besides which, not all of them use the internet or are even looking for your services.

The most effective way to get long lasting success is to ensure your website appears on the first page of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) for specific keywords and phrases that you want to appear for. This is how you endsure that a Targeted Internet User finds your website and becomes a potential custormer or user of your service.

You don’t get a more qualified targeted visitor than that. You will be surprised how many people look for your Products or Services every day, call us, and we will let you know.

Why do you need SEO?

• Optimize your website pages to ensure compliance with major search engines, especially Google
• Be correctly indexed by the major search engines
• Prevent your site from being banned by Google
• Rank on the major search engines for your targeted keywords
• Rank higher on search engines than your competition
• Build natural traffic and visitors to your website, exposing your website to millions of searchers
• Get your website on the first page of Google for your key phrase
• Ensure the survival of your business for the next 5 years

Benefits of SEO

• Rank Higher in Search Engines
• Get Targeted Visitors to your Website
• Beat Your Competition
• Make More Money
• Grow Your Business Nationally or Globally

Do you want Guaranteed Results?

The frustration of any website owner is having “no traffic” or “visitors” to their website. The honeymoon phase is over, your website looks great, but you have no visitors. The problem most likely is that no-one told you about Search Engine Optimization Services or put you in touch with an SEO Consultant. Talking to an SEO Company is one of those well hidden and less spoken about secrets of any successful website online. To have a chance at real visitors and traffic to your business online, the expertise of a professional SEO Consultant is needed and the proper SEO Services implemented to make your online business a reality. A good SEO Company will follow a process similar to ours depicted below.

What is the difference between SEO and SEM?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are worlds apart, yet SEO can improve your SEM costs and results!

SEO

An SEO Company is concerned with optimizing your website to receive higher positioning in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and increase your Search Engine Rankings. Search Engine Optimization is geared to improve your Search Engine Rankings on the major search engines for organic search engine ranking, i.e. free ranking on the major search engines. The more time and resources you pour into Search Engine Optimization, the greater your expected results will be in making the first page of major search engines. Organic Search Engine Optimization is focused on optimial Search Engine Rankings in order to receive Free search traffic and visitors.

SEM

An SEM Company is concerned with marketing your website on the major search engines. Search Engine Marketing is exactly that, marketing your website according to a budget you may have. A typical SEM strategy is Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising where you pay for each click on your advertisement that drives a visitor to your website. The cost per click is dependent on the competitiveness of your market and the keyword being bid on through e.g. Google Adwords.