Google Algorithm updates can leave small business owners feeling confused and frustrated. Learn the difference between Panda and Penguin, and how small businesses are helped by Venice.

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Panda vs. Penguin
and a little bit of Venice
Paula Keller, Director of Account Management,
Search Influence

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About Me: Paula Keller
• Marketing grad of LSU
• Director of Account
Management
• More than 5+ years
experience in
traditional/online
marketing
• Google AdWords + Bing
Ads certified

3. Confidential, Property of Search Influence, LLC © 2013
@SearchInfluence Algorithm Updates
Google Algorithm Updates
• 500 - 600 per year
• Track them here:
http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change

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Some are bigger than others…
Image Source: http://www.dogs4dogs.com/truth4dogs.html

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Image Source: www.blogager.com

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Image Source: http://powertripberkeley.com/venice-beach-sign-venice-beach-flickr-photo-sharing/

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Google Penguin vs. Panda
First Appearance:
USA, April 24, 2012
Penalty Reasons:
1. Low Quality Links
2. Over Optimized Anchor Texts
3. Keyword stuffing
How to Overcome?
1. Natural Anchor Texts
2. Contextual Thematic Links
3. Pruning The “Rogue” Links
Who Benefited?
Websites with variety of back links
Number of Updates: 2
% of Websites Affected? 3.1%
Websites
First Appearance:
Worldwide, Feb 23, 2011
Penalty Reasons:
1. Thin Content
2. Content Farms
3. High Bounce Rates
How to Overcome?
1. Replacing duplicate content
2. Use of unique content for
submission based backlinks
3. No content spinning
Who Benefited?
Well written & informative
content that appeals visitors
Number of Updates: 13
% of Websites Affected?
12% Websites
Source: http://visual.ly/google-penguin-vs-panda-update

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Let’s Talk Panda
Image Source: http://www.hubspot.com/content-usage-guidelines

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Panda
• Occurs approx. monthly, as recent as July 18
• Most likely causes for effects on advertisers’ sites:
– Duplicate Content
– Bad / low quality / thin content
• How does Google know quality content?
– Bounce rate is a key factor

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So, How Does a Business Fix This?
• Replace ALL duplicate content
• Only add totally unique content
• Re-write non-informative content
– “Give away a little bit of the store”
– What questions do customers ask when they call / come in?
• Increase engagement and drive visitors further into the
site

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Photo Gallery
Contact Form
Strong Photos
Videos
Question For

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=Image Source: http://www.clker.com/clipart-penguin-31.html
Image Source: http://www.bedlamrealty.com/links/
On to Penguin…

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Penguin
• Happens Less Frequently
• There have been 2 big
releases:
– Penguin in April 2012
– Penguin 2.0 in May 2013

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Penguin
• aggressive exact match
anchor text
• overuse of exact match
domains
– plumberneworleans.com
• blog spam
• keyword stuffing in
internal and outbound
links

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=

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But, not all votes are created equal
Image Source: http://www.submitinme.com/blogs/simtalk/seo-quote-by-matt/matt-cutts-2/

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What Makes a Link Bad?
• Structure
– Overly optimized “anchor text”
– If all the links pointing at you are on the exact
same keyword, Google sees that as a sign that a
website may be trying to “manipulate” the search
results
http://www.bluefountainmedia.com/glossary/anchor-text/

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What Makes a Link Bad?
• Source
– Completely unrelated or loosely related website
• Not good: Mommy blog in Michigan linking to a steel
maker in New Jersey
• Appropriate link: Mommy blog in Michigan writing
about and linking to vacation rentals in Alabama
– Website linking to many different industries
without real context or purpose
• (established directories are still good)

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Common Sources of Bad Links
• Poor blog commenting:
– Comments providing no real input
– Comments on unrelated blog posts
– Commenter’s name is clearly a keyword
• Syndicated/re-spun article sites
• Low, low quality directories
• Unrelated “link network” type sites

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What DOES Google want?
• “Do real stuff that companies do online”
– Share interesting info on social media
• Google+
– Provide valuable information on your website
– Create good “content” and share
• Videos on YouTube
– “Brand signals”

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Ideal breakdown of anchor text is
a mix of…
• Branded
• Keyword
• “Naked” links
– http://www.website.com
• “Other” text like “click
here” “learn more”
Image Source: http://www.netmediablog.com/how-anchor-text-can-improve-blog-seo

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Site rankings can be affected
1 of 2 ways…

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Algorithmically…
Image Source: http://www.digirank.co.uk/blog/10-seo-tools-to-help-websites-recover-from-google-algorithm-updates/

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Manually...
Image Source: http://www.techiwarehouse.com/cat/47/Computer-Beginners-Guides

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Diagnosing
• Action plan to “fix” varies based on the type
of penalty…

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Google Webmaster Tools:
Manual Actions Notice

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Manual Action Traffic Drop off

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Algorithmic
• If traffic dip in Google Analytics coincides with
a Google update, but no “manual action” in
WMT, then the site’s rankings were adjusted
by the algorithm, not manually

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Google Webmaster Tools

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Treating
• Manual action
– Perform aggressive link cleanup, document and submit
Reconsideration Request
• Algorithmic Update
– Perform aggressive link cleanup, document, and
“disavow” bad links
• Can take multiple tries
• Most cases are different
• Results can take weeks to months
• No easy cure for toxic links

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VENICE
February 2012

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Image Source: http://moz.com/blog/understand-and-rock-the-google-venice-update

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@SearchInfluence Algorithm UpdatesImage Source: http://moz.com/blog/understand-and-
rock-the-google-venice-update

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@SearchInfluence Algorithm Updates
Image Source: http://moz.com/blog/understand-and-rock-the-google-
venice-update

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@SearchInfluence Algorithm UpdatesImage Source: http://moz.com/blog/understand-and-
rock-the-google-venice-update

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Image Source: http://moz.com/blog/understand-and-
rock-the-google-venice-update

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Why This Matters
• We select keywords that include the client’s
city
• But… SEO may also help them rank for broad
search terms that don’t include their area.
• Keep this in mind as a selling point for new
and existing clients

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How to Measure
• No great way to automatically track where each
client is ranking for keywords without geo-
modifiers
• We aim to achieve an overall lift in organic search
engine traffic to their site
• Looking at search terms actually driving visits to
the site in Google Analytics is the best way to see
how the client is performing for non geo-
modified phrases in their area.

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Thank you!
• pkeller@searchinfluence.com
• searchinfluence.com/blog
• @SearchInfluence
• @paulalmkeller