Google's Penguin Update and your Small Business Online Marketing Strategy
Well Google has done it once again, they came out with their “webspam” update on April 24th and it was soon after dubbed Penguin. Since the original Panda update, Google has been vocal against sites that they believe are “webspam.” Webspam are those sites with poor content, keyword stuffing and suspect linking. These sites are often filled with content that does not read well or flat out does not make any sense. Webspam has become rampant since the original Panda update because unscrupulous sites used part of Google’s algorithm to raise their web rankings. Google’s Matt Cutts said this on a recent blog post about Penguin, “The goal of many of our ranking changes is to help searchers find sites that provide a great user experience and fulfill their information needs. We also want the “good guys” making great sites for users, not just algorithms, to see their effort rewarded.”
Google calls the “good guys” those who practice “white hat” SEO optimization. “White hat” SEO optimizers provide sites with good content and enhanced usability of the site. These changes make the site more favorable for Google’s spiders who rank sites and the user who is visiting the site. The Service Coach uses “white hat” SEO optimization tactics for all of our clients. Our goal is to make your site rank as high as possible in Google rankings. You will receive a site with enhanced usability and fresh, quality and original content. The Google Penguin update would not have affected your ranking negatively if you were a Service Coach client.
The Penguin update also addressed those sites with little or no content “above the fold.” Google sees the content “above the fold” as the content that your visitors see when they first click on the page. Sites that stuff this valuable space with ads, links and other useless information may notice a drop in their rankings. Google recommends that the main content that a user would be looking for resides “above the fold,” some ads are ok, but if users don’t see helpful content, they will likely find somewhere else to get the information they seek.
In addition to the Penguin update, Google also rolled out 52 additional changes and updates to their algorithm. Here are the changes and updates that are most likely to affect your site:
- Improvements to local navigational searches- this improvement will rank sites that fit the user’s location, even when the user doesn’t mention their location. So if a user searches “plumber” the results will be tailored to their location, not just information about what a plumber does.
- Improvement in a freshness signal- this improvement will help rank pages higher with fresh content, something that The Service Coach provides for you consistently.
- No freshness boost for low-quality content- this is similar to the above update, except that Google rates your content so even if a site has “fresh” content, they will not receive a boost in rankings if that content is low-quality. The Service Coach always provides high-quality content, which will help your rating.
- Keyword stuffing classifier improvement- if your site uses keyword stuffing, you were likely hit hard by this update. It is important to use keywords in a reasonable way that does not affect the flow of your content.
If you are unsure of how these changes affect you, or if you have noticed a significant drop in your ratings, contact The Service Coach today.
About The Author: Steve Teneriello is the Founder of The Service Coach and is a seasoned senior marketing strategist and business development professional experienced in both residential and commercial sales and digital marketing. Throughout his career Steve has worked with over 300 small to medium-sized service business owners helping them develop and implement systematic and formula driven marketing, sales and operations strategies that fuel growth and profitability. Learn More About Steve
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