Google constantly makes minor updates and tweaks to their search engine to improve how it discovers and tells good websites apart from bad websites. This all comes down to what Google considers quality content and the Panda update introduced major changes to the way website content is valued. If you are using search engine optimization as part of your online marketing initiatives these changes should be on top of your mind. Below are 3 tips that you can use to increase your website position in Google.
Minimize high bounce rate
The bounce rate is now a much more important factor (a bounce = the amount of people that only visits a single page on your site before navigating away). Before the update almost all your pages could have a bounce rate of 100% and still have top positions in the search results. Now a high bounce rate negatively affects your position in Google. Even more importantly, having many pages with a high bounce rate now negatively influences the position of your entire website. This means that even if most parts of your website have excellent content and a low bounce rate the presence of a few pages with very high bounce rate could result in a big minus from Google and will cause your website to loose positions in the search results.
Get social approval
Social bookmarks are now even more important because the more people that have shared or liked your pages on for example Facebook, tweeted about them on Twitter or added them to StumbleUpon the higher Google will value those pages. The idea here is that each time people mention your site in social media it is considered an approval. It is also very clear that sharing on Google+ using the +1 system has benefits in the search engine results on Google.
Avoid duplicate content
Having the exact same content appear on several pages on your website has always been a something to try and avoid but not really that dangerous. However with the new Panda update having duplicate content now poses a much bigger risk and the chances of your website ending up in the supplementary index is greatly increased. This means that your entire website gets penalized and it? is not possible to find it? in the search engine results on Google as long as the ban is in effect. This penalty can be lifted but it takes time. Therefore it should be a top priority to remove any duplicate content that you may have.
If you have any questions regarding search engine optimization or the Google Panda update then just reach out to me. You can also read more about our Online marketing services.
Mikkel Duckert, Digital Media Consultant
