By Alan Coleman on 21 May 2013
Between football and search marketing - as well as everything in between, we can say one thing; what a start to May! The greatest manager in English football history retired. Then the most globally recognised footballer followed suit. Ireland’s greatest rugby player decided to give it one more year. And the first ever record in space was recorded. Add to that the threat of another major update to Google's Search algorithm. Inhabitants of the world of search marketing were beside themselves. However, Google are refusing to confirm or deny if the fluctuations that websites experienced in ranking were a consequence of a Google update or not. What we do know is it was not a Google Penguin update. Penguin and Pandas Made Simple Google has two major updates to it’s algorithm – Penguin and Panda. The Panda update was the first, and targeted websites which gave poor user experience, seeking to reward high quality results. The Penguin update punished websites engaging in black hat SEO tactics - for example, keyword stuffing, participation in link building schemes, manufacturing identical exact match keywords within backlinks to boost ranking for that keyword, and the deliberate usage of duplicate content. There have been multiple updates to the Panda update with each affecting a percentage of websites. The Penguin update is more recent and there have been fewer updates to this algorithm change. A Penguin Update is Imminent - Matt Cutts So turning to early May, a number of websites experienced changes in ranking. As always the first though is that Google have released a new update. Immediately the question arises as to whether the update is a Panda or a Penguin. SEO’s turn to Google’s head of spam, Matt Cutts, asking for confirmation of their fears. In this instance, Matt Cutts would not confirm or deny any algorithm change. BUT, he did state that there was definitely no Penguin update AND that a major Penguin update would arrive before the end of the summer. Valuable Links & Authority Will be Rewarded Cutts also offered some insight into the changes that this update will bring. He warned that this update will have a greater impact than the original update. The update would have more sophisticated link analysis which will allow Google to better understand the value of a link. But most importantly, Cutts announced that Google want sites who are an authority in a particular industry to receive a ranking boost. For example, if you are an authority in the dentistry sector, then Google want your website to receive a ranking boost when a dental search is made, pushing your site above less authoritative websites. Wolfgang Digital ❤ Matt Cutts At Wolfgang Digital, we have diligently followed Matt Cutts' announcements over the last few years. We want our clients' websites to rank above their competitors. So when we hear Matt Cutts talk about authority we sit up and listen. We have moulded our SEO package around Matt Cutts' pronouncements and developed a content marketing strategy that focuses on increasing the authority of clients' websites. How do you grow the authority of your website? Well, you begin by creating quality content relevant to your industry and your customers. Then you share this content on your website and through social media. Most importantly though, you need to author this content. This means that each piece of content you share has a real person attached to it. Google can then evaluate the quality of your website based on the quality of the author. As the content grows and spreads, so does the author. Google can ascertain the quality of an author, and in turn the website, based on this spread. Hearing that Google are going to give further weight to authority is welcomed with open arms by all of us here at Wolfgang Digital. Whilst many are fearing the next Penguin update, we are eagerly awaiting Search Engine Results Pages rewarding the websites that are actively & strategically contributing content to online conversations in their area. Roll on the end of summer!
