An important piece of the Google Penguin puzzle is your content. This new update from Google shines the spotlight on the value and quality of the content you are putting up on your website and around the web. Time to make sure that it’s helping, not putting a damper on, your search engine results.
Scrutinize Existing Content
In a previous post, we discussed keyword optimization and the importance of creating quality content that incorporates keywords in a genuine and helpful way, both in the actual copy as well as for text links. Your content should not just be about pleasing search engines. It has to please actual people too.
The crucial thing to keep in mind at all times is that any content you put out online has to be useful. Forget keyword stuffing. Low quality article marketing. Blog spam. Aggressive anchor text links.
Anything that does not benefit or assist an actual person is a no-no. It’s all about quality, quality, quality!
Address Duplicate Content
Duplicate content has always been on Google’s radar, but now more than ever. Whatever you’re putting up online (subdomains, additional web pages, online articles, etc), make sure that it is unique. Duplicate content is very often not done on purpose to try to spam Google. Maybe you were just trying to save time and money by using the same content in different areas online. Duplicate content is a dangerous way to cut corners, especially now with the Penguin update.
Create New (Awesome) Content
Google loves content and loves seeing new, updated content. It’s not enough to just get your website pages up and then forget about them. With Penguin, it’s more important than ever to keep things fresh.
So what kind of content should you be producing? It’s different for each and every business and industry, but here are some ideas…
- Blog regularly. This is one of the easiest and most effective ways to satisfy Google’s thirst for new content.
- Create infographics.
- Write informative guides, such as a how-to piece.
- Develop landing pages and create new ones as you need them.
- Write press releases and send them out via online networks.
- Experiment with video content.
Again, just keep in mind the value and quality factors and create what you think would be of most use to your target market.
Get Social with Your Content
It’s not enough to just produce fantastic content. You have to get it out there! Use your social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc) to share and drive traffic to your content. Make sure that it’s also easy for others to share by including social media buttons and call outs to encourage others to post it on their networks. Social media is an important way to support your search marketing efforts.
Penguin will continue to be tweaked over time as all Google updates are (things are never perfect the first time around) – but the above tips should be enough to keep you going (and keep you busy) so that your business can survive the latest backlash against spammers.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Good tutorial.Thx!!!
Although Google is still the biggest traffic source for many websites, social media has a lot more power than Google Search. Not everyone knows this yet.
You can get a lot more traffic from social media.
There are a few rules:
1. Don`t spam ( because you will get no traffic if you spam )
2. Be social ( make friends , share your own content – but also share other`s content )
3. Be social again ( read other user`s stuff and post relevant comments )
Good luck!