Taming Panda & Penguin
Taming Panda & Penguinby Tim Grice
Taming Panda & Penguin
Taming Panda & Penguin
SEO Turbulence
Taming Panda & Penguin
Google’s On-going Clean Up2000
• Toolbar PageRank Launched
2003
• Florida Update - The Death of Keyword Stuffing• Cassandra – Death to Hidden Links and co-owned domains
2004
• Austin Update – Hidden Text and Meta Tag Stuffing
2005
• Jagger Update – Devaluation of low quality links (reciprocal links & link farms)• Nofollow to control outbound links
2009
• Vince – The Brand Update• Rel Canonical – Duplicate Clean Up
2010
• Bing & Google Confirm Social Signals are used in Algorithm
2011
• PANDA!!
2012
• Unnatural Links / Penguin / Blog Networks
Taming Panda & Penguin
SEO Changed• Low quality content is actively being penalised• Unnatural links are been devalued and causing penalties• Anchor text manipulation is being actively penalised
Google are getting better at detecting quality and removing spam
Taming Panda & Penguin
Panda• Detects low quality content algorithmically
• Duplicate• Scraped • Re-written • Spun
• Google want to deliver the best results• Unique, quality user experience• Refreshes every 4 – 6 weeks
Taming Panda & Penguin
Unnatural Links
1
2
Taming Panda & Penguin
Slight Difference
Message 1• Penalty Applied 2 – 3 weeks after the message• Links have to be removed and Reconsideration
submitted
Message 2
• Less serious, may see slight drops in key terms• Should endeavour to remove links and monitor
rankings• Consider reconsideration if rankings/traffic don’t
recover
Taming Panda & Penguin
Penguin• The Over Optimisation Algorithm• 3% of queries affected• Aggressive anchor text• Unnatural link patterns/signals• Aggressive on page tactics
• Keyword stuffing • Hidden text• Manipulative redirects• Cloaking• Manipulative Content
Taming Panda & Penguin
Combating Panda• Conduct a content audit:
• Duplicate content, both externally and internally (copyscape – Google site search)
• Blocking on site duplication with robots.txt and iframes• Rewrite/Remove low quality content• User generated content
• Algorithm runs every 4 – 6 weeks and is based on a threshold• Recovery occurs on next refresh
Taming Panda & Penguin
Panda Hit
• Tends to lower rankings across the board rather than being keyword specific• Look for drops in ‘long tail’ search traffic (Filter visits <10 in Google Analytics)• Attempt to identify ‘types’ of pages that may be causing the problem• Putting problem content on a subdomain seems to aid recovery
Taming Panda & Penguin
Combating Unnatural Links• Look for low quality follow links in your profile that pass weight
and/or anchor text
• Unnatural Links 1 – All links to be removed and reconsideration to be sent via Webmaster Tools
• Unnatural Links 2 – Identify spam links, remove, apply reconsideration only if you have seen negative impact
Taming Panda & Penguin
Link Audit
Taming Panda & Penguin
Link Classification
Taming Panda & Penguin
Unnatural Links Hit
• Rankings relying on low quality links will all drop• Most severe penalties hit with the first batch of messages• Removing links + Reconsideration is the only way to recover
Taming Panda & Penguin
Additional Considerations• Build high value editorial links with brand anchor text
• Use branded email address if possible
• Use pseudonym email address for particularly spammy sites, as a social/PR backlash is possible
Taming Panda & Penguin
Penguin – Link Spam Algorithm• Targets web spam tactics that have been against Google’s guidelines for years
• Looks for unusual linking patterns
• Links in spun or scraped content
• Aggressive anchor text strategies
• Devalues rankings for keywords that have been aggressively targeted
Taming Panda & Penguin
Penguin Hit
• Specific keywords lose rankings • Anchor text manipulation is a significant factor• Remove links and wait for algorithm to update
Taming Panda & Penguin
Removal Process
Contact Form Whois Hosting
Taming Panda & Penguin
Recovery is possible
Panda Recovery
Taming Panda & Penguin
Link Penalty Recovery
Taming Panda & Penguin
301 Redirect?• Will help recover in the short term
• If links aren’t removed penalty will pass 3 – 4 months later
• May consider 404ing redirecting problem pages away from the domain
• Always last resort
Taming Panda & Penguin
Is SEO Dead?
Taming Panda & Penguin
If this is your strategy, YES!
Taming Panda & Penguin
The Right Strategy
Taming Panda & Penguin
SEO Strategy
Locations Optimisation
Outreach
Content Strategy
Authorship
Technical SEO
Google +Editorial Link
Building
Social
Image Optimisation
Blogging
Schema
Video Optimisation
Taming Panda & Penguin
Your Strategy Has To Change
Taming Panda & Penguin
Taming Panda & Penguin
Link Building Isn’t Enough…
Taming Panda & Penguin
Link Profile Architecture• Building links with editorial value
• Perform outreach to facilitate content/social strategy
• Remove poor links
• Balance anchor text with keyword variation
• Actively build brand links
Taming Panda & Penguin
Brand Anchor text Variation
Taming Panda & Penguin
Brand Anchor Text
Taming Panda & Penguin
Variation
Taming Panda & Penguin
Taming Panda & Penguin
Editorial Discretion
“I would draw a little bit of daylight between paid directories that exercise no editorial discretion and those
like Yahoo, who have a high editorial threshold.” Matt Cutts - Feb 2012
We need to be focusing on building links that very few people can get, links that clearly show editorial discretion has taken place.
Taming Panda & Penguin
Summary• Remove duplicate/low quality content
• Remove spam links from your profile
• Send in reconsideration if you have been negatively affected
• Adopt an editorial link building strategy with a high editorial threshold
• Clean up anchor text manipulation and balance profile with brand signals
• Adopt a more holistic strategy incorporating all search products
Taming Panda & Penguin
[email protected]://www.branded3.com/http://www.seowizz.net/@tim_grice
Questions?