Google released an algorithm push that leaked to the general public. For savvy marketers, this meant that the blueprint for ranking within search engines was unleashed to the general public. If you didn’t hear about this, then you may not know that there are serious updates to the SEO standards that Google has published. Don’t panic. This leak has been truncated, and put into simple language for anyone to explore. The following focuses on some of the main elements that come with optimization in this arena, and will show off the power of Google’s Panda update.
Social Media Shares and Mentions
Here’s the starting line for many people. Your content has to be shared (not by you), across social media. Google has a soft spot for their own social network, so it behooves you to market within their pages. Get more attention there, and you will definitely get on the good side of the search engine’s reach.
Independent Reviews
For small business, and ecommerce sites, you’ll need to pursue reviews from independent verifiable sources. There’s a lot of review websites out there, so you will need to consider which one you want to focus on. This is a tough thing because you cannot outright just start setting up profiles on these pages. You’ll need to have consumers review you favorably, and organically.
Citing Sources
Just like a college term paper, you will need to cite information sources from time to time. Linking to authority sites like Wikipedia can help, but you need to diversify the reach of your links across the spectrum of your niche. Without citing sources and creating authoritative links to pages that are not affiliate links, is critical today.
Web 2.0 PR Reputation
You need to make sure that you have a lot of different content that is being published about your company, website, and more. You’ll need PR elements that link to your site and boost your ratings. This includes niche forums, blogs, magazines, and even social media sites. The more people talk about your site, the better the ranking will be.
Comments Matter
On your page, you need to have a lot of comments. If your page is getting unique, good comments, it will seem as though it’s relevant, and authoritative in your niche. Without any comments, your page is going to sink like a stone as the search engine will assume no one is caring about what you’re posting. This can be tough to manage for startups, but it’s the nature of the proverbial beast.
These elements are just starting points, as there’s hundreds of factors to consider with the release of Panda. However, these can make a big difference moving forward.
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