Content Trends

Content Marketing, SEO and Digital Marketing

Nothing Much in SEO Has Changed in 2013 – and Here’s Why

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Some SEO practitioners look on search engine updates like Google Panda and Google Penguin introduced in 2011 and 2012 respectively, as nuclear option penalty devices. An SEO guy is just doing his job, after all, trying to get his clients noticed in a competitive field. A nip here, a tuck there, ignore some rules over here, wink at a search engine tut-tut back there, and who gets hurt? Search engines don’t see it that way: All the nips and tucks break their rules.

Search Engines are hardly proactive, at least until recently. All their algorithm changes have been reactionary – reacting to SEO practitioners bending the rules or ignoring them altogether to rank ahead of the field in searches. Google Panda (meant to fight thin or low-quality content) and Google Penguin (meant to fight spam) were major adjustments to rein in SEO game playing. And it seems to have worked, because Google has made few other major changes in 2013. Here is a list of Google’s other reactions to-date in 2013.

Google’s 2013 Effort to Tame SEO

#1. Continued minor updates of Google Penguin (to reduce spam) and Google Panda (to reduce thin content).

Panda most recently was a much milder update than in the past and some sites have reported recovering ranking recently.

#2.Loss of relevance of keyword links (anchor text).

The practice once was to make sure you used keywords in anchor text, but Google says that’s no longer as important. They are attaching more relevance to more natural language – write the content naturally and add then add the links. It’s OK to use referral language or even as simple as “click here.” Google is also connecting sites through brand names that aren’t even linked, so keyword linking between brands isn’t always necessary.

#3. Fewer SERPS results per domain name per keyword phrase.

Fewer SERPS per domain name means a business that was used to their website ranking multiple times under the same keyword or keyword phrase will now only rank up to four times. For example, let’s say your domain name is pencils.com and your keyword phrase is 2 lead (as in #2 lead pencil) and before the change, you had SERPS six times for different colored lead or different pack sizes. Now you will only get SERPS for four times for those same colors or packs. Thus, the domain name remains just as relevant, but the number of rankings is lower. Google is trying to reduce the dominance of some players in rankings while making room for others who because of those dominant players were crowding the field.
Thinning out some of the same-domain-name results may help bring up some of the deeper rankings. It’s both a benefit and a bane, depending on how your website ranks.

#4.Refined Google authority algorithm to boost site authority on topics.

Topic or industry authority figures high in ranking and refining this algorithm should aid those with higher quality content and further penalize those with lower quality content. Again, the goal is to benefit the reader, and it also benefits the higher quality content producers.

#5.Less rhetoric on link building, but continued emphasis on link quality.

To reduce the effect of specious or unnatural links, Google is downplaying the number of links in favor of ensuring the links you do include have meaning. Links are still important, but you are rewarded for high quality links and not rewarded simply for having links.

Google 2013 Proactive Steps to Help Webmasters Maintain Links

Surprising SEO practitioners, Google did take two proactive steps that help webmasters manage optimization. They can help you maintain quality content, too.

#1. New “Disavow Links” feature to disavow inbound links.

Acknowledging that competitors and spammers may create links to your site that detract from your ranking, Google now allows you to “disavow” links. Make use of this feature among others in Google’s Webmaster Tools.

#2. New “Link Alerts” feature to help for maintenance of bad links.

Another new feature Google has added to work with websites is “Link Alerts.” When Google discovers problem links, they now alert you through Webmaster Tools and provide example URLs. Another feature on Webmaster Tools is the ability to track all the links to and on your site, which makes following up on Link Alerts easier.

Pleasing the Reader Pleases the Search Engines – Still in 2013

What I have found is that it’s best to ignore all the hype surrounding SEO (Search Engine Optimization, or, optimizing for search engines) and personally work on Website Optimization (optimizing a website for search, or, removing roadblocks and optimizing reader opportunities within my pages). I try to write quality content that – from the beginning – makes the content clear to the reader. When it’s clear to the reader, it will also be clear to the search engines In that respect, nothing much has really changed in 2013.

High Quality Content: A Simple 4-Point Checklist for Creating the Best Content

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Last year, Google’s Panda filter shook up the internet. The biggest losers were sites with duplicate content, plagiarized content, sites with obvious keyword stuffing and grammatical errors.
The verdict was out: Google was cleaning up the internet and making it a great place to be once again. Panda brought about a much needed new awakening, a new search for high quality content among site owners. In the wake of Panda, several pundits weighed in on the definition of high quality content. I took this opportunity to ask a few experts what their views were on high quality content.

I gleaned key pieces of insights from that discussion, my own experience and also through talking to several web content managers, directors and editors, over the years. These top 4 characteristics have been on everyone’s list as essential for creating the best content for your audience:

# 1. Unique and Original Content

All 4 experts in my interview unanimously agreed that quality content needs to be unique and original. Web writer and editor, Alan Eggleston summed it up eloquently when he said “The facts may be the same, but it is written with the style, voice, and tone that is unique and original to you as the author and with the interest of the audience in mind for the vehicle in which it will appear.”
In a post Panda world, unique and original content is rewarded by coming up at the top of search results. Plagiarized and duplicate content have always been a no-no but Panda took care of enforcing this rule with heavy penalties for the non-conformists.
The topic doesn’t have to be unique but your perspective does. For example if you have a recipe site, there are tons of recipes for chocolate cake, but what would make your chocolate cake recipe unique would be your own original recipe.

#2. Extremely Articulate and Well Written

High quality content is so well written that your audience will keep coming back for more. It flows well, sounds good and feels almost like a melody.
Here are some key indicators of well written content:
•Besides being free of grammatical errors, well written content is also succinct and to the point. Every word that doesn’t belong is eliminated.
• High quality content is never vague. It paints a concrete picture and captures our imagination because we can picture it in our minds.
• High quality content is never pretentious or pompous. Instead, it has a natural flow. If a sentence feels uncomfortable, it needs to be cut from your copy.

#3. Easy to Understand

The internet revolution has changed the way we communicate – less is always better, easier is always better.
Gone are the days of bombastic language, hyperboles and exaggerated speech. They still work in poetry and prose but as a form of communication, they are passé. The high quality sites are usually where the most complex subject matters are explained (to their target audience) in a surprisingly easy way so that any lay person could understand. The Mayo Clinic is a perfect example. Even the most complex disease or condition is explained in simple terms. The Mayo Clinic has an Alexa ranking of 1,400 which is an indication that it’s an extremely high traffic site, because people who research their conditions can actually understand what is happening to them!

#4. Educational

High quality content always makes us think in a new way or rewards us for spending our time because we learn something new. It’s educational without being preachy. As content creators, if we strive to create at least one key takeaway we would greatly enhance the quality of our content.
The following sites are perfect examples of educational content. They are at the top of their game, receive high rankings and plenty of traffic and subscribers, in large part, due to the quality of their content. These sites have interesting informative, educational stuff for content writers, bloggers and people with a passion for great content.

To sum it up, high quality content is always unique and original, well written, educational and easy to understand.

Do you agree with these 4 characteristics? Do you have more to add? Please share in the comments below.

You May Also Like:

High Quality Content: 4 Experts Share their Views
Google Gets Picky over Content with Panda
How to Write Quality Content that is Search Engine Friendly

Google Gets Picky Over Content with Panda

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This is a guest post by Alan Eggleston.

When you get caught for a traffic violation, you get ticketed. That’s kind of what Google Panda is about. Only, instead of getting caught for speeding or driving with a broken brake light, Google penalizes you for speeding with low quality content. Think of it as being caught for driving in the commuter lane while having only one person in the vehicle, then being forced to drive on the shoulder until you change your attitude.

Some Panda Basics

Google Panda is an algorithm – a filter, really – that looks for content of little substance. When it finds sufficient low quality content, Google penalizes the whole site, reducing the site’s search results ranking. They actually call Panda an “update” because every once in a while they rerun the filter to see who has improved the quality of their content and who is still violating their standards. Those who have improved get improved rankings and those who haven’t continue to suffer lower rankings. So far, Google has run six updates.

Note: Don’t confuse Panda with Google Penguin, which is a filter meant to penalize Web spammers.

What is “low quality” content, or content of little substance?

Defining Quality

Low quality content or content lacking substance provides little value to the reader. It is written to show up well in search engine rankings, focused around specific keywords. You have probably seen the ads for writers offering to provide the keywords and requiring content be written to a certain keyword density. That can create low-quality content.

Note: Keywords are important to optimization, and making sure that keywords show up strategically in content is important to ranking, but there’s a huge difference between that and keyword stuffing and writing to place keywords rather than writing for substance.

Low-quality content is also content that is duplicated across multiple sites. Some authors and editors will use the same content on multiple blogs and websites. Google wants to know that content for each site is unique. Sometimes, content is pirated from one site to another without the owner even knowing it, often to the detriment of the original owner.

Another sign of low-quality content is simply poor writing and editing. It may contain multiple typos and misspellings, rambling sentences, poor grammar, erroneous punctuation, and long, run-on paragraphs. These are usually produced by content farms or mills that pay very little and get very little in return. Their focus isn’t on quality but on quantity. The content often lacks depth and specifics, thus also lacking substantial substance and any real value to the reader.

What to Do if You’re Penalized

If you find that you have been penalized by Google Panda, there are remedies. First and foremost, replace any offending content. Make sure that you produce content that is written and edited for your readers, not simply to place well in search. Make sure it has depth and substance and that it is well written. And run searches on Google for phrases and sentence from your work and make sure no one – including you – have duplicated the content anywhere. If someone has, demand that they remove it. If you have, remove it; rewrite it if you need to make the same points elsewhere.

A word about hiring writers: You get what you pay for. While prices for writing can vary at the high end, in the U.S. the difference between a writer willing to produce at $5 a page will be entirely different from someone who won’t write for less than $50 to $75 a page. The later is usually a well established writer who will provide top quality material, while the former is usually someone wanting to establish a career. You’re risking your publication and ranking on paying cheaply. You might find a gem in the rough, or you might simply find a lump of coal. Hiring a quality writer can be a tremendous help in creating quality content. A quality editor is equally important.

A Final Point

Being penalized by Panda is site-wide. That means Google won’t just tag and penalize the pages that show a lack of substance, but they’ll lower the ranking of all your pages. If you’ve lowered your standards and used “black hat” spamming techniques on your site, too, you could be in for a very difficult revival. Remove all the barriers to good quality content and user-oriented searches, and that should improve your rankings.

Alan Eggleston is a web editor, writer and principal of E-Messenger Internet Consulting. He recently posted a related article on the Web Editors Blog titled “Pandas and Penguins and Penalties, Oh My!”