In our previous post we looked at some of the changes seen in the world of Search Engine Optimisation so far this year.  This post looks at a few others.

Panda

Google loves Panda, the algorithm that penalises websites for poor quality content, scraped content or duplicate content. Since November 18, 2011, Google has updated Panda at least 13 times that we know of.  Panda acts like a ratio-based sanction against a website.

The only websites we have seen recover from Panda sanctions have all had to remove low quality content and replace it with well-written, useful content that adds value to the reader. They also have removed any duplicate or near-duplicate content

Rewarding Quality

It often feels like Google spends all its time looking for ways to try and penalise a website by actively searching for low quality content, so it was refreshing to see changes announced in their June – July ‘weather’ update to identify and reward high quality content.

 Webspam

Back in April, Google announced this news:

In the next few days, we’re launching an important algorithm change targeted at webspam. The change will decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating Google’s existing quality guidelines.

http://goo.gl/LnG1l

Predicted to affect 3.1% of search queries, Google were vague about how the algorithm works. One example showed blatant keyword stuffing. The second example showed links in spun content. Because Matt Cutts, Google’s Head of Webspam wrote:

Sites affected by this change might not be easily recognizable as spamming without deep analysis or expertise, but the common thread is that these sites are doing much more than white hat SEO; we believe they are engaging in webspam tactics to manipulate search engine rankings.

I suspect the update includes some form of HTML language analysis.

In our next post we will take a final look at other major search engine changes.  If you would like to know more about how GB Web Marketing can help you gain or retain a good ranking for your website in the search engine results please leave a comment below, or if preferred call us today on 01293 822755