I’ve been trying to make sense of all the comments I find on the web, related to Google Panda updates. And by doing so, I try to clear in my mind what to do and what not to do.
The traffic to my website decreased considerably. On analysis, the first thing I noticed was that Google Search was ignoring “com.au”, no longer showing a preference for Australian websites. So I had to add “Australia” to every page of my website.
Then another Google change, it ignored “Australia” in a sidebar and I had to put it in the title of every page. Website traffic improved slightly.
Another Panda Update
Monitoring the phrase “Access Database Developer”, I was suddenly back on page one, with no need for “Australia” to further qualify the search phrase. It seems that Google has been refining and correcting the search algorithms in each version. And giving me more gray hair.
Jumping to conclusions about SEO before all the changes have been set and finalized is premature. Of course, with traffic dwindling and panic, it’s all very well to hope that Google will eventually stop making changes. But the SEO response is a call to action: the inevitable result is to change something, anything.
SEO is very difficult when we aim at a moving target. I’m sure Google will inevitably get it right. But in the meantime, there will be some innocent bystanders who will become victims.
Web Suggestions
An often mentioned SEO tip I found: a keyword density of 4% is too high. It should be reduced to as low as 2% with a lower chance of being penalized. Well, I have the word “access” appearing naturally throughout my website at a much higher density than 4.0%, and I’ve still achieved first page ranking. So far that suggestion.
Then there was a comment that H1 and H2 tags shouldn’t contain keywords. Again, this has not been my experience.
Everything is in a state of flux
I am reminded of Professor Skinner’s experiment, making pigeons hop on one foot, waiting for food. I feel like one of those pigeons that will try anything for the reward of a better ranking.
We must beware of simplistic conclusions drawn from a very sophisticated set of rules. Especially when those rules are in a state of flux.
Some suggestions
The conclusions I have drawn from all this are:
- Make sure you’re targeting your Selected Audience and only your Selected Audience. A large number of indiscriminate visitor traffic makes no sense.
- Write original content naturally without considering any SEO principles. If your topic relates to your target audience, good keyword spread will naturally follow.
- Make sure that what you write is of interest to your chosen audience.
- Add headings that summarize each paragraph.
- Then change some of the repeated keywords to synonyms that could be used to find your website.
- Continually add pages of interest (news, tips, articles, etc.) to your website.
Article submission directories have taken a hit in their rankings. But the best have recovered to some extent. Submission of relevant articles is still very important. But only submit your article to a directory.
In summary
There is nothing new in all of this, just the SEO that should have been done in the first place. Only more.
