Thursday 19 September 2013

Waseem Saddique Marketing – Tips for Navigating the Google Zoo


Bamboozled by all this talk of Pandas and Penguins? Waseem Saddique Marketing offers some clarity on recovering from Penguin and Panda penalties.

Google Panda
Waseem Saddique comments: “Google Panda is effectively the quality content hunter. In a bid to eradicate content that is keyword stuffed and overly SEO optimised, Google has an agenda for identifying websites with unique content in order to see them feature higher on their search engine ranking lists.”

Top tip – To tackle Google Panda, give serious consideration to the written content that your company is publishing online. Whether you’re writing content for an article, a press release or updating the text on your website, the question you should be asking is - ‘Is the content being produced adding value to a particular topic or enhancing the text on my website?’

If the answer to the above question is ‘no’, Google Panda will simply dismiss the content as poor. Seeking out ‘quality’ content is the primary reason for Panda’s existence.

Some pointers – In order to deal with poor quality webpages Waseem Saddique recommends trying a number of tried and tested tools and strategies: 

·      Use 301 redirects – This allows you to change the URL of a page that is likely to feature in search engines. This is probably the best solution for directing search engines to the correct page

·      Use no-index on your web pages – Using no-index meta data is ideal for your business if you don’t have root access to your web server. You then remain in control of access to your site on a page-by-page basis. Google’s Webmaster tools provide a piece of html code allowing you to install no-index on your site:

To prevent all robots from indexing a page on your site, place the following meta tag into the <head> section of your page:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

To allow other robots to index the page on your site, preventing only Google's robots from indexing the page:

<meta name="googlebot" content="noindex">     

Another option is to completely re-write or add content to your site. According to searchenginewatch.com some businesses have experienced a 700% recovery from the effects of Google Panda restrictions by re-writing their content.

Google Penguin
Waseem Saddique comments: “The latest Google Penguin update was implemented in May 2013 and, in contrast to Google Panda, Google Penguin targets the links on websites, assessing whether those links direct website users to articles or websites relevant to the genre of your site.”

Top tip – Content is again the key, be sure that links directing users to other websites are directing them to a site featuring quality content. Google Penguin recognises websites that are directing consumers to poor content, so getting your link strategy correct is of huge importance.

Pointer - To tackle the Google Penguin Algorithm, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services recommends producing something known as ‘Advanced Content’. Advanced content usually appears in the form of an eBook, white paper or a guide. Offering something of ‘value’ on a particular topic is seen as a major contribution.

Advanced content is well researched, factual and informative and above all should link back to quality sources. Google Penguin picks up on this and will ultimately identify that website as a ‘reliable’ source provider, thus pushing your position to a higher ranking on search engines.


Waseem Saddique Marketing Services serves to help businesses of all sizes enhance their online and SEO marketing efforts. Need marketing advice? Visit www.waseemsaddique.blogspot.co.uk