Site Owner Needs to Know About Panda
Panda is here, and it's confusing a lot of website owners! Panda is, essentially, a quality content algorithm. Sorry, folks, you'll have to get rid of all that really bad content on your site, and replace it with well written, well researched words. In short: Google is cracking down. Here's what you need to know.
1. Goodbye, bad content! Did you hire someone on the cheap to write sub-par content for your site? Did you copy content from another site, paste it to your site, and cross your fingers? Well, neither of those things will work now. If you want to remain in Google's good graces, it's time to go through your site and get rid of the really bad stuff.
Then, hire someone to write good stuff. That's right, it's time for a writer that can, you know, actually write (and that means getting rid of any content that was written by writers working for content mills – but that's another post!).
2. Post interesting stuff : Google no longer will tolerate nonsense. You can still use those keywords, but your paragraphs actually have to make sense. With Panda, Google is rewarding sites that post original content – and that means putting things into your own words! It's not so much that Panda will punish any site that doesn't have an original idea (let's face it, most things have already been thought of), but it does mean that you'll have to make your content your own.
3. Panda likes experts : You have to gain Google's trust now, and that means proving that your site is worthy of readers and rankings. By posting interviews with experts and becoming an industry leader in any topics, Panda will reward you.
4. Watch out for those ads! Don't bombard your readers with ads. Ads are great for any site if they pay, but Panda doesn't want to play with sites that have a ton of ads. You have to keep your content-to-ad ratio balanced in order for Panda to rank your site amongst the best.
5. Stay on top : This is a big one. Google announced that the company would no longer post Panda updates. That means that you will have to keep track of those updates yourself. I know, it's a pain, but it can be done easily if you follow a blog like this one or set up Google News alerts.
Site Owner Needs to Know About Panda: In Conclusion
From a writer's standpoint, Panda is a great thing. Finally, writers that are worth more than sub-par pay will be seen as necessary and useful. Panda also means that bad writers will be discarded, and that site owners will have to work with great writers.
For site owners, Panda can be confusing. You may not even know that you have bad content on your site! If you're not sure, it's time to have that content evaluated. If you know that you paid someone cheap to write “okay” content, it's time to change – or Google's new Panda will simply toss your site aside.
Questions? Comments? Post below!
Photo Courtesy of awesomelyabby via Flickr Creative Commons
