What is the Google Panda Update and How Can You Benefit From it?

The Google Panda update has many online marketers scrambling. A lot of webmasters have seen a significant drop in their search rankings since these changes took effect.

What is the Google Panda update?

It’s the name of Google’s latest algorithm change. It first came out on February 24. At the time over 10% of the search results were switched around. Many webmasters saw their number of daily visitors dive bomb to 50% or less of what they were before.

While the initial wave only impacted the United States, changes are coming soon for the rest of the world. And don’t get too comfortable if you survived the initial cut. Google changes the Panda algorithm every 4-7 weeks, and therefore you still could potentially get slapped if you aren’t careful.

What’s the point of the Google Panda update?

As with every change in the Google algorithm, the main aim is to improve the search results. As always, sites that are low quality, spammy or have no useful content will be hurt the most.

How you can benefit from the Google Panda update

Don’t simply try to “survive” this latest algorithm change-focus on how you can benefit from it. After all, many sites have dropped in the rankings. That means that many others have gone up. Here are 5 ways you can be part of the 2nd group:

#1) Have quality content
This is the most important point of all. If your site provides useful information, you don’t have to worry about any changes in the Google algorithm. In fact, every time they move things around, you will probably see your site rank even higher.

#2) Improve your site structure
A lot of internet marketers only think care about how many links they have pointing to their site. They forget that on-page optimization is also very important for ranking in the search engines. Therefore, make sure that your site is structured in a clear-cut, easy to follow format for the human visitor as well as the search engine robots.

#3) Improve your page rank strategy
You need to make sure you are passing page rank to the appropriate pages. For instance, some keywords are harder to rank for than others. Therefore, the pages targeting those terms should be only 1 click away from the home page, because here they will get the most page rank benefit.

#4) Get rid of errors
Mistakes on a page look unprofessional, and error-free sites are rewarded in the new algorithms.

#5) Get rid of “dead-weight”
Some webmasters try to have as many pages as possible, because bigger sites tend to rank better. Unfortunately, a lot of those pages often have content that was either ripped off an article directory, doesn’t relate to the rest of the site, or is just plain useless. Yes, those pages are hurting you because they reflect on the rest of your site. Get rid of them.

Conclusion
If you are prepared, then you will actually benefit from Panda. Just make sure that you have a quality site that is well structured. If you follow these simple guidelines, you will benefit from the Google Panda update and every future Google algorithm update.