Google Panda Rewards Quality Content Development
Posted by John McNeilly on Wed, Jul 06, 2011
Google's newest tweak to one of its search algorithms has SEO firms and web editors wondering how to attract traffic and brand themselves effectively online.
Some sites have complained that Google Panda, one of numerous programs that determine what sites are selected in response to a particular search, discriminates against their webpages in search engine results. Understanding what Google Panda seeks to achieve is an absolute must for sites looking to stand out in a rapidly expanding online community.
As always with SEO, content development is the key to creating a site that really draws in viewers who can relate to what a webpage offers. Creating unique and interesting content is a prerequisite that no one can ignore, regardless of other aspects of their site that may have popular appeal.
However, Google has begun to develop algorithms advanced enough to search out not just unique content, but pleasant atmospheres and positive aesthetic indicators as well (they clearly explain these goals in this official blog post). As more and more sites with unique content come online, Google needs a way to select those that its users will enjoy visiting the most.
Differentiating between sites that host equally interesting and helpful content often comes down to creating a positive visitor experience. Being willing to change your website to make it a pleasant viewing experience is the new key to remaining competitive under the new rules of Google Panda. Here's a great way to tell if your site has been adversely affected by the new Panda updates.
As was previously mentioned, content development is still very important but is no longer the only key to SEO. A great explanation of the subtle changes in Panda is hosted by SEOmoz.org, where they pinpoint the ways a site can now maximize traffic and how Google determines the sites it will select to a particular search.
Among others things, Google will measure aesthetics but such metrics as viewer concentration (are your viewers from a particular region or are they from various areas) and especially pages browsed. For example, if a viewer comes to a site and views more than one page (and hopefully many) on the site, indicating they were interested by something, Panda will favor that site. On the other hand, if "they are browsing like 1.001 pages, like virtually no one clicks on a second page, that might be weird.", and Panda is likely to penalize that page by having it come out lower in the search results.
The key thing to take away from these Panda developments is to develop a holistic approach to designing your page. Content development is still very important. Without it you're unlikely to attract traffic regardless of page design. However, as there is more competition from other sites on the web, details such as aesthetics and viewer experience must be taken into account, especially now that they can be measured by computer programs.
Sites that seem to forego investments in appearances and web layout will be penalized, so the best way to avoid this--and future drops in traffic--will be to make changes to your content development strategy now.