The Penguin swallowed some sites; webmasters panicked and then there was the usual Google bashing. Now, that the dust has settled down and the Google dance (that some sites ended up doing) has slowed down, here are my observations:

1. Websites that had not ignored their onsite SEO have done fairly well. This includes sites that did not:

• Overuse the targeted keyword
• Stuff the Meta tags and descriptions with keywords
• Ignore their Blog sections
• Forget about the importance of social media

2. Sites that learnt from the Panda updates and started focusing extensively on social sharing have not been affected much.

3. Webmasters who made a deliberate effort to make their backlinks appear natural by using various permutations and combinations of their targeted keywords as anchor texts, have survived the Penguin as well.

4. Article directories and even distribution services have become more selective about the kind of content they accept.

5. Link diversity has paid off.  All those that tightened their belts after the last Panda update and began diversifying their inbound link portfolio have escaped unscathed.

So, what’s the lesson in here? Learn and Anticipate. The Penguin is obviously not the last of updates to be rolled out by Google. There will be more to come. As webmasters we need to focus on ensuring that we:

1. Are strict about quality (both onsite and offsite). This means that we must focus on developing quality content on the site and engaging mostly with directories and blog sites that practice some amount of quality control.

2. Stay away from any link buying schemes.

3. Have share buttons of popular social bookmarking websites to encourage natural backlink building.

4. Do not buy likes and followers from dubious sources. Seeing the direction in which Google has been moving, ‘social media quality-control’ could be next on the agenda.

5. Maintain a quality blog section on the site, so that we can create natural, non-spammy bookmarks and also encourage social sharing.

The writing is clear–The SEO landscape is changing fast, the only rule of survival today is to change and adapt.

 

 

 

 

 

Google+