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Google Panda - A Self Audit To Protect Your Site And Earnings From Panda

Since February 2011 when the first Google Panda update was released till the most recent October Panda update, there has been a lot of lamentation from webmasters about decrease in traffic and their Google search engine ranking.

The series of Panda updates have really affected some sites and greatly reduced their earnings.

Was your site affected? What can you do to improve your search rankings and site earnings?

If your site wasn't affected what does that mean? These areas are what this article will cover.

What is Google Panda?

If you didn't know what the Panda updates are about, they are different changes Google is adopting to rank sites in their search results.

According to Google the aim is to rank sites that offer unique and quality content higher in search results than low quality sites.

And Panda is a continuous update, since it release, it has almost been a monthly update. Below are the dates each Panda update so far was released.

English language

Panda 1.0: Feb. 24, 2011
Panda Update 2.0: April 11, 2011
Panda Update 2.1: May 10, 2011
Panda Update 2.2: June 16, 2011
Panda Update 2.3: July 23, 2011
August 12, 2011 -- Panda Update 2.4 (all other languages except Chinese, Japanese and Korean)
Panda Update 2.5: September 28, 2011
Panda Update 2.5.2: October 14, 2011

The Noise about Panda

Personally I don't pay attention to the many noise surrounding search ranking because most times they only succeed in distracting you unnecessarily.

I decided to write about this, because it bothers a lot of people.

And for beginners it raises some questions about making money online, especially how reliable online earnings are. And my goal here is to guide beginners as much as possible.

Since the Panda release many people have started making guesses as to why some sites rankings went down and saw a great decrease in traffic.

Some say it's because the sites places adsense code on the top of their content, forgetting that Google itself approved this before.

And others, well, have other things to say. And if you're not careful you'll start making changes to your site that are not even necessary and wasting your time. That is if your changes won't even do more harm than good.

So did why did the Google Panda update affect some sites search rankings?

Well, again the aim of the updates are to place quality sites higher in search result over low quality sites. So one would expect that sites that were affected were low quality sites, but unfortunately this is not.

I know of some sites that offer really unique and quality content but saw a huge decrease in search rankings and search traffic.

So what does Google Panda expects from webmasters now and what does this tell us?

The Changes in Google Algorithm with the Panda Updates

Google has many criterias in its algorithm for ranking sites. And formerly a big part of that criteria was to consider what other sites thought of another site.

If Google thought that different sites thought well of a particular site, (backlinks from other sites was a primary way it determined this)it ranks it higher in search result.

The difference in this new algorithm updates is that Google is now more concerned about the user experience of a site than what other websites thinks of the site. Google can determine this in various ways. And some of them are:

• The time a visitor spends on a site
• The bounce rate of the site (whether visitors are spending time reading your content, or leaving immediately they came)
• Whether or not readers are recommending your site to others.
  Users can recommend your site using the Google +1 button if you have it on your site or social media buttons.
• Branded search traffic. That is whether or not people regularly type in the name of your site or domain directly into Google search engine.
  
  E.g someone searching blogging-the-beginners-complete-guide.com or 'Blogging The Beginners Complete Guide' instead of entering a keyword.

You can see that with these different ways, Google is able to determine whether visitors are finding your content helpful or not.

Google Panda is simply prioritizing unique quality content. This is not something new though. Google has always asked this of publishers and webmasters, except that it is taking measures now to make sure we adhere to it.

What Google Panda means for Webmasters

It means what I have always been encouraging visitors to this website.

Keep things as real as possible with your site - Offer unique quality content, create a user friendly site structure, consider your visitors needs when making recommendations, whether offering useful links or products, and get backlinks from quality sites.

This is what I have been doing, and not until I read about Google Panda somewhere a month or two later after it was started, I didn't even know something like that was going on, because my sites search rankings remained the same including the niche site I started 4 months ago.

The die has been cast, it's time to separate the real online infopreneurs from the fakers and scammers.

You either come online for real work and business, or forget about it. And I have always said this before.

But what about sites who kept to the webmaster guidelines and still got burnt. Any help for them?

What can they do now to increase their rankings and earnings?

What to do if your site got hit by Panda

Google Panda sure hasn't been fair to all. And it can be annoying I know. Some people have said to hell with Google and encouraged some other ways of getting traffic.

Yes, of course you can do that. But the truth is that, you can't really build a solid targeted traffic without the help of the big Google. This is true whether you want to believe it or not.

Google gives you unbelievable level of targeted traffic for free.

So while I also encourage diversity in traffic source, I most encourage working with Google for a better search ranking and traffic to your site.

So what can you do?

Google initiated the algorithm updates, so they are the best source to look to for solution, so first go through their 23 questions for publishers and webmaster .

Try to improve your site to answer yes to each of the questions there. Then continue in that spirit and focus on writing more content for your site.

Do not be obsessed over getting your rankings back.

Improve your site were you need to. Add more content as you want to and look into other ways of getting traffic.

If you keep doing all the right things eventually your site's ranking may go up again. But don't beat yourself over it or let it discourage you. It does you no good.

Now more than ever, diversify your income source. Don't just depend on Adsense, because if your traffic drops, it will immediately affect your earnings.

Look into other good ways of monetizing your site, such as, affiliate products, services, create and sell your own product and so on.

Think of ways of earnings that does not depend so much on your traffic volume.

Tips for all Webmasters

• If your site wasn't hit by Panda, be very proud of yourself because it must mean you are doing something right. Keep up with it.
  
  You are not hit today though doesn't mean you won't be hit by the next Panda update. So just be on the watchout.
  
  If another update is released and your site happens to be hit, just follow what I said above.
• In Google own words: "Focus on delivering quality content rather than trying to optimize for any particular Google algorithm"
• Now more than ever it is imporant that you know the topic you choose to write about very well, that is the only way you can guarantee unique and quality content.
  
  If you copy or just rephrase someone's content, you are asking for trouble.
• If you outsource, you must ensure that the articles written for you are unique whether it is for a niche site or authority an site.
• Avoid services promising you original articles except you can take the time to re-write those articles and make them sound original.
  
  But the time you will use to do that will be enough to write an article from your head.
• As I said before the links you add on your site to other sites should help your visitors.
• Get your backlinks from quality sites and ensure to diversify your sources when building backlinks.
• Finally keep away from the noise about Google Panda updates, their effects and claimed new SEO secrets to higher search rankings.
  
  No one knows anything for sure. So people are just guessing.
  
  If you have concerns about search rankings, go to the right source. The 23 questions Google asks publishers and webmasters to consider for a better search ranking. And improve your site with it.
• Obviously, unique and quality content is now the name of the game. It has always been though, it's just now so obvious.
  
  Update or no update, those who put in the time and effort to write unique quality content and put their users first in every thing they do on and for their site has nothing to fear.

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