The Battle Against Penguins and Pandas: Getting Back Ranking and Running Future Proof SEO Strategies

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The Battle Against Penguin & Pandas Getting Back Ranking and Running Future Proof SEO Strategies Benj Arriola @BenjArriola Ballroom G www.internetmarketinginc.com

Transcript of The Battle Against Penguins and Pandas: Getting Back Ranking and Running Future Proof SEO Strategies

The Battle Against Penguin & PandasGetting Back Ranking and Running Future Proof SEO Strategies

Benj Arriola@BenjArriola

Ballroom G

www.internetmarketinginc.com

Detection Fix Prevention

How sure are you that you were hit by a Panda or Penguin update?

How to get back lost rankings and organic search traffic.

Why these practices work.

Case Studies

How to avoid Panda and Penguin problems.

How to avoid any future search engine update problem.

Agenda-at-a-Glance

Knowing “why” aside from “how” sometimes confuses others.But sometimes it helps others when “why” helps them understand more.

Were you hit by the Panda or Penguin Update?

Web Analytics

Google organic search traffic over time.

View the date and time range during the updates.

You can use any decent web analytics platform that records organic search traffic and can filter by search engine.

Google Analytics

Adobe SiteCatalyst

IBM Enterprise Marketing Management (Formerly CoreMetrics)

WebTrends

Piwik

Others

Panda & Penguin Update Dates

Correlate Google organic search traffic with rollout dates of the Panda & Penguin Updates.

Find them on existing blogs:

Search Engine Land

SEOMoz

Search Engine Journal

Search Engine Roundtable

SEOBook

Search Engine Watch

Others

SEOMoz Google Algorithm Change HistoryPanda/Penguin Detection: Correlate Incoming Google Organic

Search traffic trends with the Algorithm Change History

Examples of Sites Hit by Panda/Penguin(Client Product/Service: Garage Doors)

Examples of Sites Hit by Panda/Penguin(Client Product/Service: Garage Doors)

Effects of some Panda & Penguin updates may not be that obviousif your data range is too long within Google Analytics.

Examples of Sites Hit by Panda/Penguin(Narrowing the Date Range)

Overall Traffic Search Organic Google Day / Week

/ Month

It may be useful to smoothen the line by changing the chartto display daily, weekly or monthly to remove the confusion of fluctuation.

Panda 3.5 Panda 3.6Penguin 1.0

Examples of Sites Hit by Panda/Penguin(False Positive, Client Product/Service: Financial/Stocks)

Sudden Drop in Overall Traffic

June 2011 – Panda 2.2?

Examples of Sites Hit by Panda/Penguin(False Positive, Client Product/Service: Financial/Stocks)

Sudden Drop in Overall Traffic

June 2011 – Panda 2.2?Filtered, Organic Search Traffic Only

June 2011 – Panda 2.2?

Filtered, Organic Search Traffic Only

June 2011 – Panda 2.2?

Examples of Sites Hit by Panda/Penguin(False Positive, Client Product/Service: Financial/Stocks)

Filtered, Google Organic Search Traffic Only

June 2011 – Panda 2.2?????

Filtered, Google Organic Search Traffic Only

June 2011 – Panda 2.2?????

Examples of Sites Hit by Panda/Penguin(False Positive, Client Product/Service: Financial/Stocks)

Google

Search except Google

Referring Sites

Not filtering down to Google Organic Search withinAnalytics may give misleading Panda/Penguin incorrect analysis.

Panda/Panda Update Date Details

Panda 1 Feb 23, 2011 Thin ContentContent FarmsAd-to-Content RatioContent Quality12% of queries affected in the US

Panda 2 Apr 11, 2011 Blocked SitesEnglish-Speaking Country Roll Out

Panda 2.2 Jun 21, 2011 Gradual Roll Out, Dancing Results

Panda 2.4 Aug 12, 2011 English and Non-English Except Chinese, Japanese and Korean6-9% of queries affected

Penguin 1 Apr 24, 2012 Over Use of Anchor TextKeyword Stuffed Anchor Text3.1 English queries affected

Panda 2.1, 2.3, 2.5, Flux, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.9.1, 3.9.2, #20

Penguin 1.1, #3

Various dates startingJul 23, 2011

Mostly minor updates, not much details were given except that the announcement of the roll outs were made either in a conference, a tweet, or on one of the Google maintained blogs.

Understanding the Panda & Penguin UpdatesPanda/Panda Update Date Details

Panda 1 Feb 23, 2011 Thin ContentContent FarmsAd-to-Content RatioContent Quality12% of queries affected in the US

Panda 2 Apr 11, 2011 Blocked SitesEnglish-Speaking Country Roll Out

Panda 2.2 Jun 21, 2011 Gradual Roll Out, Dancing Results

Panda 2.4 Aug 12, 2011 English and Non-English Except Chinese, Japanese and Korean6-9% of queries affected

Penguin 1 Apr 24, 2012 Over Use of Anchor TextKeyword Stuffed Anchor Text3.1 English queries affected

Panda 2.1, 2.3, 2.5, Flux, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.9.1, 3.9.2, #20

Penguin 1.1, #3

Various dates startingJul 23, 2011

Mostly minor updates, not much details were given except that the announcement of the roll outs were made either in a conference, a tweet, or on one of the Google maintained blogs.

Panda/Panda Update Date Details

Panda 1 Feb 23, 2011 Thin ContentContent FarmsAd-to-Content RatioContent Quality12% of queries affected in the US

Panda 2 Apr 11, 2011 Blocked SitesEnglish-Speaking Country Roll Out

Panda 2.2 Jun 21, 2011 Gradual Roll Out, Dancing Results

Panda 2.4 Aug 12, 2011 English and Non-English Except Chinese, Japanese and Korean6-9% of queries affected

Penguin 1 Apr 24, 2012 Over Use of Anchor TextKeyword Stuffed Anchor Text3.1 English queries affected

Panda 2.1, 2.3, 2.5, Flux, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.9.1, 3.9.2, #20

Penguin 1.1, #3

Various dates startingJul 23, 2011

Mostly minor updates, not much details were given except that the announcement of the roll outs were made either in a conference, a tweet, or on one of the Google maintained blogs.

Understanding the Panda & Penguin UpdatesUnderstanding the Panda & Penguin Updates

Panda Update = Quality Content Penguin Update = Quality Links

I’m bored reading your

mediocre content. Your links look

like some spammy SEO guy made it.

Panda Update = Quality Content

How can Google Measure Quality Content?

Content Layout & Site Architecture

User Behavior

Understanding the Content Itself

Manual Reviews

Quality Content

Content Layout & Site Architecture

Ad-to-Content Ratio

Less Ads, More Content

Related Updates:

Above The Fold Update, Jan 19, 2012 (Top Heavy)

Page Layout #2, Oct 9, 2012 (Top Heavy 2)

Tools

Google In-Page Analytics

ResizeMyBrowser.com

Web Developer Toolbar

Firefox, Chrome Extension

Quality Content

Content Layout & Site Architecture

Not too deep

Interesting, Informative, Link Baitable

Tip: Duplicate Content – Block, Redirect or Canonical: http://mz.cm/LAvPGn

Categorize well, consolidate similar pages, eliminate

duplicate content.

Categorize well, consolidate similar pages, eliminate

duplicate content.

Categorize well, consolidate similar pages, eliminate

duplicate content.

Categorize well, consolidate similar pages, eliminate

duplicate content.

Thin Content

Page Consolidation

Content Siloing

Site Architecture

SERP Clickthrough Rates

Bounce Back to SERPs

Blocked Sites

Back Button

Google Toolbar

https://www.google.com/reviews/t?hl=en

Google Analytics?

Time on Site & Bounce Rate

Other Platforms: Piwik

Chrome Browser?

Backlinks?

Monitor Google Webmaster Tools clickthrough rate

Monitor pages with high bounce rate coming from Google organic search.

Write better Title tags and Meta descriptions

Strong second call-to-action

Quality Content

User BehaviorMeasuring Quality Based on User Behavior Fixes

Emotional Triggers in Writing Titles: http://bit.ly/emotiontrigger

Quality Content

Understanding the Content Itself

Can Google understand content?

Every keyword you type in phrase, Google has somestatistics tied around it on how the word is used.

Every keyword you type in phrase, Google has somestatistics tied around it on how the word is used.

Quality Content

Understanding the Content Itself

Can Google understand content?

Semantics

Relationship of Words

Relevancy

Cohesiveness

Analyzed on an individual page level, or between linked pages.

Measuring Quality Based on the Words Used FixesWrite natural

# of Words

Keyword Density

Keyword Count

Synonyms and other related terms

The only people that worry about this the most are the sploggers, scrapers, content spinners.

Free Content Writing Webinar on Nov 13, 2012 at 11am http://bit.ly/TDvvZX

Leader in Semantic TechnologyPurchased by Google back in 2004.

Algorithm Change

If ranking goes down:

It is technically not a penalty, but it sure feels like one.

It will surely hit you once the algorithm propagates.

What happens if you submit a spam report?

Google may view it as a need to adjust the algorithm.

If you submit a reinclusion request:

Since your site is not penalized in the first place, they are not reincluding your site anywhere. But they may double check if your site was falsely filtered out by an algorithm. So they may view it as a need to adjust the algorithm also.

Manual ReviewIf ranking goes down:

It is definitely a penalty.

You may not get a penalty if no one from Google finds out.

What happens if you submit a spam report?

I may be added in the manual reviewers queue of sites to look at.

If you submit a reinclusion request:

Your site is reviewed if you would now pass the manual review and you took action to fix your site.

Quality Content

Manual Reviews

Forms:Spam Report FormReconsideration Request FormPenguin Feedback FormWebmaster Central Forum

Penguin Update = Quality Links

How can Google Measure Quality Links?

Content quality of link source

Natural Links vs. Artificial Links

Speed of Link AcquisitionIdeally, to appear having natural link building, number of links start small and gradually increase over time.

Speed of Link AcquisitionIdeally, to appear having natural link building, number of links start small and gradually increase over time.

Sudden burst of a large number of links, especially for a new website may raise red flags as they may be perceived as artificial link building.

Speed of Link AcquisitionSudden burst of a large number of links, especially for a new website may raise red flags as they may be perceived as artificial link building.

Although sudden burst in links, as long as they are not too excessive, is ok with older websites.My estimate would be 3 years and older.

Speed of Link AcquisitionAlthough sudden burst in links, as long as they are not too excessive, is ok with older websites.

My estimate would be 3 years and older.

Starting with a large amount of links may seem artificial but if the rate is constant, this will appear natural and this should not affect ranking. Which is often the case with breaking news reports.

PageRank DistributionNormally it is easier to get low PR links than high PR links. And as a site gets popular over time, the ratio of low PR and high PR links remain the same. Most links are low PR and high PR links are fewer.

PR

9–10

PR

6–8

PR 3–5

PR 0–2

PageRank DistributionNormally it is easier to get low PR links than high PR links. And as a site gets popular over time, the ratio of low PR and high PR links remain the same. Most links are low PR and high PR links are fewer.

PR

9–10

PR

6–8

PR 3–5

PR 0–2

A site with mostly links from very low PR sites to no PR at all with a negligible amount of high PR links may not look normal.

Spammer

PageRank DistributionA site with mostly links from very low PR sites to no PR at all with a negligible amount of high PR links does not look normal.

Spammer

A site with mostly links from high PR sites with almost no low PR sites also appear as artificial link building.Remember, diversity in PageRank is good. Where generally, there are more low PR than high PR.

Link Buyer

Use of Link TextThe relevancy of link text to your targeted keywords is very important. However naturally people link to companies and other websites using the company name, or branded products/services than generic product names/services.

Use of Link TextThe relevancy of link text to your targeted keywords is very important. However naturally people link to companies and other websites using the company name, or branded products/services than generic product names/services.

If your target keyword used too often as you link text, this may raise some red flags as artificial link building.Diversify link text with long tail variations.

IP Address of Link SourceBacklinks although coming from the different domain names, if they come form similar IP addresses, they are all on the same server and can possibly be own by one person on a shared hosting server account.

IP Address of Link SourceBacklinks although coming from the different domain names, if they come form similar IP addresses, they are all on the same server and can possibly be own by one person on a shared hosting server account.

Going a step further, often Class-C IP addresses (aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd) are also residing on the same server. If a large number of links are on the same Class-C IP address, this may suggest artificial link building.IP address diversity is also key in link building.

Other Link Quality FactorsPageRank

TextLink Text

Surrounding Text

Title Tag

Other Text

AgeOf Page

Of Domain

Of Link

Site-Wide Links vs. Content Links

Adjacent Links

Backlinks of the Backlink (Neighborhood)

TLD/ccTLD

Geolocation

Diversity in Website Type (blogs, forums, directories, articles, etc.)

Backlink Profile

QuantityGoogle Webmaster Tools

Bing Webmaster Tools

Search Engine “link:” command

MajesticSEO

OpenSiteExplorer

SEMRush

aHrefs

Sistrix

Quality (Power)Google PageRank

# of Backlinks of the Backlink

Total Backlinks of the Domain

Keyword Focused

Majestic ACRank

Follow or No Follow

Hosting Country

Site Wide vs. Single Page

Quality (Authority & Trust)

TrustRank

Google Indexed

SEOMoz Page Authority

SEOMoz Domain Authority

IP Diversity

Anchor Text Diversity

Deep Linking

Domain Age

Domain Name Extensions

.gov/.edu/.org

ccTLD

Limited

More Comprehensive CEMPER

PowerTM CEMPER TrustTM

Power*Trust

Power*Trust (Cemper, LinkResearchTools)

Power*Trust of Backlink Pages

Backlinks Found: 30,458# Unique Domain Live Links : 5,287

Power*Trust of Backlink Domain

Backlinks Found: 30,458# Unique Domain Live Links : 5,287

Bad & Suspicious Links

Bad & Suspicious LinksRule Total Percentage

SUSP1 4874 41.80%

SUSP10 2647 22.70%

SUSP6 1587 13.60%

SUSP9 830 7.10%

TOX1 690 5.90%

SUSP8 362 3.10%

SUSP7 359 3.10%

SUSP4 200 1.70%

SUSP5 44 0.40%

SUSP3 27 0.20%

TOX2 23 0.20%

SUSP2 8 0.10%

Power*Trust of page = 0

Power*Trust of domain < 5

May be a forum or low quality link directory. Usually generated by

automated tools or by manually by a

spamming team.

Domain link velocity trend < -70%

Past 4 months shows a significant decrease in links compared to the

past 1 to 2 years.

May be an expired domain or site that

users has lost interest.

Domains under the same domain registrar.

Links may be part of a link network.

Domains under the same DNS

Links may be part of a link network.

Domain not indexed.

Site may be penalized in Google.

Domains may also be new, or site is blocked in robots.txt or by the

meta noindex tag.

Domains have the same Class-C IPs

May be part of a link network.

Domains have the same IPs

May be part of a link network.

Not Ranking for Title

Power*Trust of Domain < 5

Power*Trust < 5

May be a penalized site

Website theme is suspicious.

May be about hacking, pornography, illegal

pharmaceutical distribution,

Backlinks from 1 Class-C IP > 10

Power*Trust of Domain < 5

Power*Trust < 5

Possible link network, or just a very unpopular

page.

Malware, Malicious, Virus infected website.

Power*Trust of the Domain = 0

Could be penalized, or just could be a brand

new site.

Bad & Suspicious Links

Evaluate, try to remove link if necessary. Attempt link removal. Increase links like these

Link Removal Services

Matt Cutts still recommends as much as possible try to remove bad links even if the Disavow Link Tool was created.

If the link really cannot be removed, then use the link disavow tool.

Tip: More on Disavow Link Tool: http://bit.ly/disavowlinkstool

Case Study (Finance/Stocks)

Organic Google 2011

Hit by Panda 1, never came back

Case Study (Finance/Stocks)

Organic Google 2012

Became IMI Client

Majority of work: Removal of internal duplicate content. Fix site architecture. Ran a blog. Did some

infrographics. Promoted on Social media. Submitted Reconsideration request

Case Study (Home Furnishing/Decor)

Organic Google 2011

Mainly hit by Panda 2

Minor hit in Panda 2.4 & 2.5 flux

Case Study (Home Furnishing/Decor)

Organic Google 2012

Became IMI Client

Majority of work: Manual rewriting of tons of page content and removal of duplicate content.

Our Biggest Challenge When Dealing with Panda and Penguin Affected Websites

Client

Does not want to change anything on the site.

Client tends to be spammy himself/herself and does not believe in your recommendations.

A major technical issue, with lack of technical know-how or resources.

Never allocated the right time and resources.

Panda Prevention = Penguin Prevention

Good Content Natural Links

You know your content is good

when people talk about it & pass it

around.

Good natural links are gained when people pass your

good content around.

Prevent your site from being affected by Panda & Penguin by:(1) coming up with great content & (2) doing a social promotion.

Quality Content

Content Layout & Site Architecture

Not too deep

Interesting, Informative, Link Baitable

Categorize well, consolidate similar pages, eliminate

duplicate content.

Categorize well, consolidate similar pages, eliminate

duplicate content.

Categorize well, consolidate similar pages, eliminate

duplicate content.

Categorize well, consolidate similar pages, eliminate

duplicate content.

Thin Content

Page Consolidation

Content Siloing

Site Architecture

Free Content Writing Webinar on Nov 13, 2012 at 11am http://bit.ly/TDvvZX

Common Link Building Methods

Link Begging / Solicitation / Request

SubmissionsDirectories

Articles

Press Releases

Content LinksBlog Postings

Article Directories

Blog Commenting

Press Releases

Banner Ads, Text Link Ads

ForumForum Posting

Forum Signatures

Public Email Groups

Social MediaSocial Networks

Social Bookmaking

High Quality Links

High Quality LinksInbound Link Building

Link BaitInfographic Creation

Blogging Strategy

Video Strategy

Trust Bait

Badge, Awards & Recognitions

Guest Blogging

Authoritative SourcesPress Release & Matte Release

Infographic Example

Infographic Example

Blogging Strategy

Common Blog BenefitsNew Fresh Content

Content Syndication

Opportunity for deep linking to main website pages

Many blog platforms are nearly good with less work on on-page SEO out of the box

Link Bait Opportunities

Study Current Blog Competitors

Blogging Strategies

Blogging Schedule

Social Promotion

Free Content Writing Webinar on Nov 13, 2012 at 11am http://bit.ly/TDvvZX

Video Strategy

Common Video SEO BenefitsLess video ranking competition than web pages

User stickiness and potential to convert well

Potential for natural video sharing of users as a link building tactic.

Link Bait OpportunitiesStudy Videos of Competitors

Video Strategy

Social Promotion

Automated Video CreationXML Feed Powered

Trust BaitAttracts very long term to permanent links from high trust value websites.

TLDs are from .gov, .edu, .org, .mil and more.

Create a high quality resource information page to divert link juice to your website. Your Site

Trust Bait Case StudyTrade-a-Plane.com

Foundational OnPage SEO already completedRankings improve by remain stagnant for two months with room for more opportunities.

Created Trust Bait PagesPromoted them through education, government, organization channels (4/26/2012 to 5/30/2012)

10 links gainedExperimental Aircraft Association Websites

EAA922.org (.edu & .gov)

EAA32.org (1999)

ProFlyersInc.com/EAA501 (2002)

ExperimentalAirplane.com (2000)

Other Airplane Pilot Groups

FlyingGators.com (1999, .edu & .gov)

AirMailPioneers.org (1998)

Educational Insitutions

COA.FIT.edu (1989)

UkiahAviation.com (.edu & .gov)

Informational/Resource Pages

CrashSiteOrkney.com

AirCrashSites-Scotland.co.uk

Trade-a-Plane.comFoundational OnPage SEO already completed

Rankings improve by remain stagnant for two months with room for more opportunities.

Created Trust Bait PagesPromoted them through education, government, organization channels (4/26/2012 to 5/30/2012)

10 links gainedExperimental Aircraft Association Websites

EAA922.org (.edu & .gov)

EAA32.org (1999)

ProFlyersInc.com/EAA501 (2002)

ExperimentalAirplane.com (2000)

Other Airplane Pilot Groups

FlyingGators.com (1999, .edu & .gov)

AirMailPioneers.org (1998)

Educational Insitutions

COA.FIT.edu (1989)

UkiahAviation.com (.edu & .gov)

Informational/Resource Pages

CrashSiteOrkney.com

AirCrashSites-Scotland.co.uk

Trust Bait Case Study

Press Release & Mat Release

Press ReleaseOptimize and identify opportunities for PR topics.

PR: It is up to the news publishers to syndicate your press release or not.

Mat ReleaseGuaranteed News Article Distribution

The Battle Against Penguin & PandasGetting Back Ranking and Running Future Proof SEO Strategies

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