Another Panda Update 3.92 - 0.7% Effects

Google Panda - a word which most of  SEO's are afraid about. It's always good to know that "Panda and penguin updates are making the web better". Most of the websites will effect by these algorithm changes due to low quality content as well as spamy back links.

Here is the update on twitter regarding Google Panda 3.92 update by a Googler: http://goo.gl/ByvVf

As per the above tweet only 0.7% of the Google search results will be effected. We (SEO's & website owners) might not worry more about this query if you have good quality content on your website. Google has made 20 panda updates till now by targeting poor content.

Do you love Google Panda & Penguin Updates?

Google Now Cards – Get Just the Right Information at Just the Right Time

Google landing and announced Google Now …. It gets you just the right information at just the right time.
Google Now tells you today’s weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, when the next train will arrive as you’re standing on the platform, or your favorite team’s score while they’re playing. And the best part? All of this happens automatically. Cards appear throughout the day at the moment you need them.

• Get just the right information, at just the right time - Just swipe up, and you’ve got the latest information you want to see, when you want to see it.
• No digging required - Cards appear when they’re needed most, organizing the things you need to know and freeing you up to focus on what’s important to you.
• You are in control - Choose exactly which cards you see. You control whether you get personalized results from your calendars, locations and searches after opting in.

Google Now is categories with 10 different cards and more to come,

1. Traffic
2. Public transit
3. Next appointment
4. Flights
5. Sports
6. Places
7. Weather
8. Translation
9. Currency
10. Time at home

For more about Google Now,

New site not indexed on Google yet ? Here’s what to do

Checklist for search engine indexing.
1. Check if your CMS has an opt in option where, it blocks search engines.

Well technically they shouldn’t but some CMS’s like WordPress has a default option which will be checked already where it will block all search engines from crawling the website. This is to make sure that your website is not indexed while you are only setting up the site. But when you forget to uncheck this option, the CMS adds a Nofollow meta tag to the pages whereby search engines will not crawl the site.
2. Check if you have set the correct Robots.txt

Robots.txt files are used to control (not fully though) search engines crawling the website. Make sure you have not blocked bots from crawling parts of your website.
3. Check if your servers are returning OK status

Use tools like header checker tools to ensure that your server is returning a healthy 200 OK status. Anything else should be dealt with immediately.
4. Set up a sitemap

Sitemaps does not guarantee that your site will be up on the SERPs soon, but they are a necessity. They ensure that we have a route map for the bots to follow. So set up a sitemap before even trying to get indexed.
5. If you run plugins check if they are set properly

Setting plugins like SEO plugins are good. But make sure they are set properly. Some plugins have an option to set nofollow meta tags on pages by default to avoid duplicate content issues, if you do not turn this off, it might screw up the indexing process.

I assume that you have done all the basic steps to invite search engines to your site already. Which are -

1 – To submit the website URL to Google via the submission tool.

2 – If possible, get a relevant contextual link from a good website (which has already been indexed and has good reputation).

Summary

Generally Google takes its own time to index new websites, and the best way to make sure Google indexes your site is to get a very relevant text link from a reputed site, but it isn’t easy always. But however, remember to have the basics health check done, so that when the bots are here, you have everything in place.

Google Local Listings with Zagat Rating in Google Plus

Google made some changes to Local Business Listings from May 30th 2012 onwards.

What are the changes?
Google Local Business Listings has a new look i.e Local listings are integrated in Google Plus.
Each local business listing rating system has been improved using “Zagat Rating” system.


What is Zagat Rating?
Zagat Rating system will have 30 point scale. Mostly this system used for hotels where customers will rate food, décor and service. It seems that Google has applied the same rating system to all of the local business listings in Google Places. However Google is displaying only the total score instead of individual Zagat Score of each service. Refer following screenshot for a better idea.

Difference between Old & New Local Listings:

How can I recover from Google Penguin?

Recovery from Google Penguin is a difficult one for some webmasters, but much easier for others. The recovery time depends on the extent of the authority lost from bad/poor quality links. Depending on your websites link profile makeup will depend on how long it takes to recover, there is no fixed answer.

To get started why not consider:

Evaluate your websites linking profile, if you believe you were unfairly hit then use the following form to submit an appeal to Google. This is a manually reviewed form and will take time to be considered. Click here for the Webspam Form.
Whilst waiting for your websites review, ensure your link profile is clean, and does not contain links that could be perceived as bad/negative or spammy.

Create a new strategy for creating good quality content, media and other useful items which can be shared through social media from your website. Consider everything from useful tools and guides to viral content/media.
Don't rely too heavily on links, do not hit back by buying links or influencing the re-growth of your websites long run doing so could cause major issues in the long run.

If your not already video blogging or using Youtube, consider joining the revolution, video is powerful.
Ensure your social activities and presence remain active, poor or inconsistent efforts will hamper progression.
Ensure that your growing link profile has a diverse link anchor text profile, excessive exact match anchor text can and will cause problems.
From the point of ranking loss onwards, there is no foreseeable update likely to help recovery as linking was one of the leading contributors for website positions. Instead, focus on addressing the situation and putting new strategies into place.
Gain a better understanding of your market place, join social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Google +, Reddit and other networks and share your content, knowledge and information.
Any quick fixes are unlikely to work, and could cause problems for the website during future updates

Google Penguin Update

So what exactly is Google Penguin, and why so many problems?

Google Penguin was an enforced update that went ahead despite thousands of requests against it. Google Penguin is another branched update from Panda which has tackled the following areas:

Website Linking Profiles
Exact Match Anchor Text Profiles
Affiliation with Blog Networks
Link Diversity
Spun Content and Content Duplication
Mined Content & Site Profile Content Makeup
Excessive Ad Utilisation
Paid Link Utilisation & Brokerage Link Patterns
Blog & Comment Spam
Forum Links & Posts on Irrelevant Websites
Article Websites & Distribution Channels with Link Back
Links from known Bad Neighborhoods
Content Profile using Excessive Syndicated Content

The above are the main areas which have been taken into consideration by Google Panda.

The problems which stem from the update relate to link development and influence. The Google Panda update appears to have hit websites hard when their link profiles appear artifical and not organic. Websites which have used obvious or excessive link development strategies that employ some of the items listed above will have been penalised for their site profile.

Google Penguin has been introduced to reward websites which have acquired links organically using the power of content and media. The ultimate goal of ALL of Google's search algorithm updates stem around quality. Google's business model and utilisation has been built on the foundation of returning high quality search results, any compromises could lead to the downfall of Google's authority as a market leader in search.

40 Useful Tips and Techniques in SEO and Link Building

40 Link Building Techniques:

1. Always put a signature link in forums that links point to your site.
2. Post links to lot of social bookmarking sites.
3. Commenting the blog and link back to your site
4. Try to oppose the opinion on everyone or any popular poll. Everyone will argue and link back to you saying you’re wrong.
5. Use Question and Answering Website
6. Use Yahoo and Google Groups and interact with a link to your site in your site signature.
7. Redirect from 404 page into your homepage
8. Have an opt-in form
9. Review and write feedback for product or company
10. Article Directory Submissions
11. Press Release submissions
12. Use PPC advertising
13. RSS Subscription.
14. Mailing subscription
15. Add a bookmark button on your site.
16. Tell a friend or refer a friend options on your website.
17. Write your niche, information or anything great and email other blogging professional to let them know – there’s a good chance they’ll link to you.
18. Blog directory submissions.
19. RSS feed directories submissions.
20. Classified ad listing.
21. Link baiting for link building
22. Create a profile in more Social networking or community websites
23. Freebie products listing on your website
24. Web directories submissions
25. Create a group on many websites
26. Make business card with website links
27. Affiliate marketing
28. Video sharing submissions.
29. Guest blog posting.
30. Traffic pages creation into squidoo, hubpages and etc.,
31. Use an autoresponder on your mailing list.
32. Link Exchange with your related website.
33. Events marketing
34. Forum posting
35. Create a email newsletter and sending many others followers
36. Conduct a survey and publish the results
37. Purchase PLR Articles for content promotion and marketing
38. Create short and memorable domain name and link back from many other website
39. Put your RSS feed syndication into many sites like Zimbio, hubpages and etc.,
40. Apply to get listed in Google’s News search.
41. Post a blog or article about celebrities current events