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Google Panda Insights

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jimcoe
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25 Mar 12 7:04 pm

Google Panda Insights

This is info I copied from the ClickBank blog. However, I reorganized the bullet points into appropriate categories. This is about how Google's periodic "Panda" review weeds out sites Google thinks are "low quality".

Google’s representative went on to list the following as questions that one could use to assess the quality of an article or a page:

• Trust, Credibility:
○ Would you trust the information presented in this article?
○ Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
○ For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
○ Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
○ Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
○ Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
○ Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

• Expertise, Authority:
○ Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
○ Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
○ Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
○ Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
○ Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?

• Duplicate Content, Scraping:
○ Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
○ Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?

• Spammy:
○ Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
○ Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
○ Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
○ Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?

• Value Added:
○ Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?

• Look and Feel:
○ How much quality control is done on content?
○ Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
○ Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?

• Unsubstantiated Claims:
○ Does the article describe both sides of a story?

The blog post is at:
http://www.clickbank.com/blog/2011/08/01/google-panda-effects-on-affiliate-sites/

Hope this helps...
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john14
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25 Mar 12 8:23 pm

 I tend to believe that this list provided by the BIG G is quite misguiding in essence in that they often say this and do that. I don't think they will be judging sites according to those above pointers. Rather these MIGHT BE for search quality raters.
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jimcoe
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25 Mar 12 8:44 pm

 You may very well be right John14. There seems to be a lot of evidence that Google doesn't always do as they say they will do. The more they move from a search engine model to an ad network model and the larger they grow as a publically traded corporation the less trust they get from me.

Still, I think it's good to consider what they do actually say, especially with more Panda sweeps coming up. And why not provide a "top quality Visitor Experience"? It probably gets you more sales than an amateurish and spammy site, right? And this list looks like a visitor-centric quality checklist and we need to think from the visitor's perspective.

Anyone here met every one of these guidelines and still got hit?
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cecille.l
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28 Mar 12 5:18 am
Still, I think it's good to consider what they do actually say, especially with more Panda sweeps coming up. And why not provide a "top quality Visitor Experience"? It probably gets you more sales than an amateurish and spammy site, right? And this list looks like a visitor-centric quality checklist and we need to think from the visitor's perspective.


I agree. Following the above list can do no harm, the worst that could happen is following the list to the letter and still getting hit. Following the above guidelines will certainly improve user experience on your site and at the end of the day it is the users/readers you want to impress.

We have a blog post on SEO and Panda that I'd like to add here:

SEO, Traffic and Panda - How to succeed in 2012

Hope that helps. Have a good day!
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Cecille

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jimcoe
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28 Mar 12 4:20 pm

 Hey thanks Cecille. That's my 3rd viewing of that Panda and the future webinar. A lot of good info IMO.

I love expertise about what's coming next. In this accelerated and accelerating web world it's tough to keep up, so good forecasts are very valuable.

I feel lucky that I've been mostly a content marketer and vendor, so Panda hasn't affected me much so far. And as a writer, "Look and Feel" freak and niche expert, I've got clean content and fairly good looking pages. So, the slow, methodical white hat route may not have made me much money (yet), but it saved my sites from Panda.

That webinar is reassuring in that what's recommended is close to what I've been doing and fits with what I want to do going forward.
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cecille.l
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29 Mar 12 9:06 am
So, the slow, methodical white hat route may not have made me much money (yet), but it saved my sites from Panda.


Getting your site up is the easier part, really. It is getting traffic and sales that is challenging. It's a slow process. Some choose to go the automated route and I understand them. Some automated services work although not for a long time. Still, slowly and surely is certainly much better these days.
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Cecille

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jmpruitt
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29 Mar 12 3:57 pm

 I got hit hard by a google update about 2 years ago (who remembers May Day?) I had spent almost a year on SEO at that point and was JUST starting to see good results, and then it was all gone overnight. After that, I quit relying on Google and started focusing on getting direct traffic to my sites.

Although I was already using a few direct traffic methods, like forums (one of my biggest traffic sources since I started in 2009) so I took what I was doing there and got involved in social media and guest blogging, using the same principles I was already using in forums, and used them by going out and networking with people.

If you focus on the things you mentioned in the original post, and then you use those in your link building as well, not only will you get better search rankings, you will also get better niche involvement. I do very little link building for SEO, but by networking with people I tend to get higher search rankings than I did before.

One thing I generally caution people with is not to rely on any 1 source of traffic for more than 30% of your traffic.

One reason I have remained as active here at Affilorama for so long is because in the IM niche, they have been one of my top 5 direct traffic sources consistently for 3 years. However, that still accounts for only about 10-20% of my traffic. (I love the community here too, which helps. However if I didn't get the traffic, it wouldn't be worth my time to keep coming in so much.) Find a few good sites that you can become a regular member of the community with, and leverage those relationships. It is one of the best things that you can do for your business.
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Do you want to use your online content to Educate others, inspire them to action, and run a profitable business for yourself and your family? I can help you get started
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jimcoe
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29 Mar 12 4:18 pm

 @James
One reason I have remained as active here at Affilorama for so long is because in the IM niche, they have been one of my top 5 direct traffic sources consistently for 3 years.


Small wonder, since you always provide solid "value adds" in your posts. It's like they say about blasting emails to your list, "Leave them wanting more and looking forward to your next message".

I've only been here a few weeks, but have learned much from your posts - thanks for that...

And you've inspired me to get more active once again in some of the forums I've been neglecting (to do more marketing - ironic, no?).
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dow15018
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08 May 12 6:39 am

 Google Panda is a tool used by Google to keep a control on spamming and reduce duplicate data on the website. This tool would punish those websites which do spamming and contain duplicate data and would decrease their ranking on Google. This has been to enhance user experience and provide all visitors with relevant data.
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cecille.l
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08 May 12 7:31 am
Google Panda is a tool used by Google to keep a control on spamming and reduce duplicate data on the website. This tool would punish those websites which do spamming and contain duplicate data and would decrease their ranking on Google. This has been to enhance user experience and provide all visitors with relevant data.


You've got the gist of it but Google Panda is more of a search engine algorithm, something like a "filter" if you will, and not a tool.

Have a good day!
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Cecille

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duraid
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09 May 12 8:04 pm

 Thanks jimcoe for sharing that!

It definitely helps to know what to think about when designing your site and creating articles. And it makes sense.

and thanks James for the reminder about forum posting. I still have yet to start with this, because I have been focusing on other things. I guess the thing with forums is that you have to keep doing it (although it does build relationships and trust, which is key to making sales), whereas with search engine rankings, once you are up there, you can enjoy the traffic that you get.

Thanks everyone!
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cecille.l
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10 May 12 8:42 am

 @Duraid - We published a very good article in the Affilorama blog about forum marketing. I'm posting it here in case you missed it: Forum Marketing Tips & Tricks

James has definitely come a long way here in the forums. :) He's a big help to all members. He's taken his participation here in Affilorama a notch higher by posting in our YO Blog.
It's not so difficult to guest post here in Affilorama. Here's how you can submit your own article for the YO Blog:
Introducing the Affilorama YO Blog

Hope that helps. Have a good day!
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Cecille

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mybest.forums179
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22 May 12 7:20 am

 Google recently rolled out three major algorithmic updates that have left many websites reeling. In between two Google Panda refreshes (on April 17 and 27) was the April 24 launch of the Penguin Update.

The Panda update is more of a content related update, targeting sites with duplicate content and targeting spammers who scrape content. The first Panda update was over a year ago and Google has been releasing periodic updates ever since.
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lilygreen289
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19 Jun 12 2:46 am

 I tend to believe that this list provided by the BIG G is quite misguiding in essence in that they often say this and do that. I don't think they will be judging sites according to those above pointers. Rather these MIGHT BE for search quality raters.
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