Google’s latest Penguin update has undoubtedly affected the rankings of many websites; some have disappeared altogether while others may have found that their rankings may have dropped quite significantly.
With this latest update it will be more important than ever to diversify incoming link sources, vary anchor text and focus on quality instead of quantity. Here are a few tips to help you optimize your existing or a new site post Google’s algorithm change.
1. Diversify Your Links
It’s important to diversify the source of your inbound links. For example, if you relied solely on blog commenting as a source of links back to your site your rankings may have dropped with the latest update. It’s a lot more prudent to work on building a diversified link portfolio which may include links from guest blog posts, articles, high quality niche directories, blog comments and social bookmarks. Having a diversified set of incoming links appears more natural to the search engines. It’s rather unnatural to have all of your links come from just blog commenting.
2. Mix Up Your Anchor Text
You may have seen a drop in your rankings if you’ve been using the same anchor text ad nauseum. For example, if you own a car dealership with a service department and want to get ranked in the search engines for “Ford Service Fullerton” you may want to mix it up with “Ford Repair Fullerton or “Car Repair Fullerton”once in a while. The added benefit of doing this is that you will end up getting ranked for the other keywords as well.
Using the same anchor text over and over again is simply unnatural because “real businesses” should have plenty incoming links with various anchor text in addition to their official business name which is probably not “Ford Service Fullerton”.
Also Read : Post Penguin Online Marketing Techniques
3. An Emphasis On Big Brands
Google is placing an importance and giving preference to big brands. One example of a big brand is Ford. If you are working on a site that is considered a major brand it would be beneficial to link back to the site using the official name of the site (with the brand included). Big brands have a better advantage of ranking well since they are considered more “trusted”.
4. Quality Over Quantity
Focus on quality instead of quantity. This means that article syndication sites are a no-go. As we all know, some of the biggest article syndication sites have been wiped out. One link from a respected authority site has more significance in Google’s eyes than ten super spammy ones. Focus on writing and creating quality content that offers something of value to the reader. Gone are the days of submitting tons of subpar articles or posting tons of nonsensical blog comments.
Nice, easy to follow article. Thanks! I’m actually relieved at some of the changes with the Penguin update. Writing articles for article syndication sites has never appealed to me – a lot of work, little reward, it seems like just writing stuff to disappear into the ether. I’m starting to work on writing quality guest posts for higher ranking sites. Sure, it’s a bit of work, but has quite a few advantages: 1. a good backlink 2. developing a good relationship with other sites 3. traffic from your target audience
Micki recently posted..Why Travel With Kids Is Amazing
I was really worried about optimizing my new site after penguin update.. Thanks for this post hope this will hep me a lot.
Sagor mamun recently posted..How to Make an Online Store