Google Penguin, Google Panda, and Google Algorithms 2013

Algo Chaos
Presented by:
Bill Hartzer

Overview
• Recent Major Google Updates
– Panda, Penguin, EMD, Page Layout, Hummingbird

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Google Knowledge Graph
UnNatural Link Warnings
Cleaning Up Links
Link Removal Requests
Google Disavow Tool
Content Strategy
Social Validation

Bill Hartzer, Director of SEO
Twitter: @standingdog and @bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/StandingDog

What is Google Panda?
• Ranking factor added to the Google algorithm
• Filter designed to identify ‘low quality pages’.
• Provides better rankings for high-quality sites
• Panda is integrated into algorithm, after two years
• Named after Google engineer Navneet Panda

How Google Panda Was Developed
• Google Engineer came up with questions.
• Sent questions to human quality testers who rated sites
– Rated based on quality, design, trustworthiness, speed, and
whether or not they would return to site
– Google came up with definition of “low quality”
• Launched Personal Chrome Site Blocker extension earlier.
– Allowed users to specify sites they want blocked from search
results
• Compared data from both sources (Raters and Chrome Blocker),
and had 84 percent overlap, indicating on right track
• Came up with Classifier to indicate Low Quality vs. High Quality
Sites, to be used mathematically in Google Panda.


Google Panda History
• Rolled Out to US sites around February 24, 2011
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http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/finding-more-high-quality-sitesin.html

• Rolled out to Globally to all English language Users around
April 11, 2011
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Also began to roll out data from sites that users block

• Latest update Panda #25 — March 14, 2013
- Panda updates now on rolling update schedule (previously
manually pushed out). Updates less transparent now.
• Panda Dance, Panda Recovery, June and July 2013

Google Panda Update History
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• Panda #21 — November 5, 2012
Panda/Farmer — February 23, 2011
• Panda #22 — November 21, 2012
Panda 2.0 — April 11, 2011
• Panda #23 — December 21, 2012
Panda 2.1 — May 9, 2011
• Panda #24 — January 23, 2013
Panda 2.2 — June 21, 2011
• Panda #24 — March 14, 2013
Panda 2.3 — July 23, 2011
• Panda Dance — June 11, 2013
Panda Goes Global (2.4) — August 12, 2011
• Panda Recovery — July 18, 2013
Panda 2.5 — September 28, 2011
Panda "Flux" — October 5, 2011
Panda 3.1 — November 18, 2011
Panda 3.2 — January 18, 2012
Panda 3.3 — February 27, 2012
Panda 3.4 — March 23, 2012
Panda 3.5 — April 19, 2012
Panda 3.6 — April 27, 2012
Panda 3.7 — June 8, 2012
Panda 3.8 — June 25, 2012
Panda 3.9 — July 24, 2012
See the Google Algorithm Change History:
Panda 3.9.1 — August 20, 2012
http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change
Panda 3.9.2 — September 18, 2012
Panda #20 — September 27, 2012

Were You Hit by Panda?
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Look at Web Analytics
Sites affected had traffic loss starting in February, 2011.
Google Analytics for your site (Web Trends, Omniture, etc.)
SEM Rush for most sites (SEMRush.com)
How many sites recover?
http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/google-panda/


Recovering from Panda
• Make sure all content on site is “high quality”
• Review Google’s List: 23 Questions to assess quality
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http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-guidance-on-buildinghigh-quality.html

• Identify and remove least-visited pages
on site via your web analytics
• Take out the trash, so to speak.
• Prevent Pogosticking from SERPs.

Panda vs. Penguin
• Panda focuses on sites providing a bad user experience
– Sites with low quality content
• Penguin focuses on spamdexing and link bombing.


What is Google Penguin?
• Google: “algorithm change targeted at webspam.”
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http://insidesearch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/another-step-to-rewardhigh-quality.html

• Goal is to “decrease rankings for sites that violate Google’s
Quality Guidelines”.
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http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?
hl=en&answer=35769#3

• Examples:
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Keyword Stuffing, Over Optimization
Unusual linking patterns (outgoing links)


Google Penguin History
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First reported April 24, 2012
Penguin #2 — May 25, 2012
Penguin #3 — October 5, 2012 (0.3 percent of queries)
Penguin 2.0 (#4) — May 22, 2013
Penguin 2.1 (#5) — October 4, 2013


Were You Hit by Penguin?
• Look at Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, review
dates of Google Updates.


Recovering from Penguin
• Perform a full SEO Audit of web site
– Identify and fix problem areas on site that violate Google
guidelines (keyword stuffing, over optimization, etc.)
• Review Google Webmaster Tools for messages, suggestions
• Perform full link analysis of site
– Download links from Majestic SEO, Moz Open Site Explorer,
a hrefs, etc.
– Review anchor text, clean up links to site
– LinkResearchTools.com for further cleanup

• Work on Authority, Trust of your site


Exact Match Domain Update
• Exact-Match Domain (EMD) Update — September 27, 2012
Should be called the “Commercial Phrase” Update. But for PR purposes, I realize
why Google calls it the “EMD” update.

• Google targeted “commercial phrases” with this update.
• AdWords CPC Cost + # Searches Per Month = Commercial Phrase
• Example:
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$5.00 CPC + 20,000 Searches Per Month = Commercial Phrase

Valuable Domain Names include Keywords (commercial phrases)
Not all keyword rich domains affected
Sites without keyword rich domains were affected
Recover by cleaning up your link profile, especially anchor text

• Link Profiles should have 70 percent or more “brand”
anchor text, company name, URL as anchor text.

Page Layout Update
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Page Layout #2 — October 9, 2012
Google targeted pages with too many ads “above the fold”
http://browsersize.googlelabs.com/
Algo proof: content above fold, minimal ads above the fold.


Knowledge Graph Update
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Knowledge Graph Expansion — December 4, 2012
Added KG functionality to non-English queries, enhanced KG
Knowledge Graph is here now, almost a year later.
Get your site, business into the Knowledge Graph.
TIP: get listed in Freebase.com, part of Knowledge Graph.


UnNatural Link Warnings
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Have an unnatural link warning in Google Webmaster Tools?
Sample Unnatural Link Warning shown below
Process for Recovering from Unnatural Link Warnings:
Clean Up Links, Disavow, Reinclusion Request
IMPORTANT: Clean Up Your Links!
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Disavow, Reinclusion Request not required!


Cleaning Up Your Links
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Review all your links (Majestic SEO, a hrefs, Webmaster Tools)
LinkResearchTools .com Link Detox Tool
Identify Toxic and Suspicious Links. Review by hand!
Notify site owners of toxic links, review suspicious links
Be nice, ask, beg for removals. No C&D from your lawyer!
If no answer, prepare Link Disavow list


Link Removal Requests
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Get organized. MS Excel, Google Docs spreadsheet
Include URL, Status, Date Contacted, Anchor Text, Notes
Find domain owner (whois data, contact info on site)
Ask for link removal or anchor text change if appropriate
Realize that some links won’t be removed (thus disavow tool)
Remember: Disavow is not required in order to recover.

• How to respond to a link removal request
http://www.billhartzer.com/pages/how-to-respond-to-a-linkremoval-request/


Google Disavow Tool
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What is Disavow? (Bing has Disavow tool, too)
Disavow is an advanced tool – use with caution
Not all sites should disavow links
Should You Disavow Links? How to Know
- check your backlink profile, look for toxic links
- if you have a rogue former SEO firm who built bad links
- if you have negative SEO done to your site
• Disavow should be a “last resort” effort. It’s not a magic bullet
for ranking better.
• Carry on with your ‘normal’ linking, link earning activities (or
do more of it)
• https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/disavow-links-main

Google Hummingbird
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Did you notice when Hummingbird went live? I didn’t.
Some say Hummingbird was a publicity stunt by Google.
Hummingbird is the “back end” or “engine” of organic SERPs.
Google’s blog post doesn’t mention Hummingbird, but mentions
Knowledge Graph
http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2013/09/fifteen-years-onandwere-just-getting.html


Recovering from Hummingbird
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Was your site hit by Google Hummingbird?
Did your site traffic go down?
Probably not.
Hummingbird debate is just starting…
Hummingbird patents:
http://bit.ly/Z6uArv
• Hummingbird not about Longtail
http://bit.ly/1eFD1k1


Your Content Strategy
• Content Marketing, on your own site, is key
• Review Google’s 23 Questions to Assess Quality
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http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-highquality.html

Examples:
• Would you trust the info presented in this article?
• Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who
knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
• Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or
redundant articles on the same or similar topics with
slightly different keyword variations?

Combine Social Media with SEO
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Create content on site, promote on social sites
Twitter links, mentions of URL are seen as links.
Post on Google+, +1 the URL, add to Facebook page
Encourage social sharing of your site’s content


Social Validation
New URLs need Social Validation
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Google looks for new URLs they can trust
Google “trusts” new URLs if social shares (validation)
New content must be socialized within 2 hours
After 2 hours, new URLs are not “fresh”
Submit new URLs (blog posts, articles, even new sites/domains
Share on Facebook Page, Google+, Twitter,
LinkedIn, other social sites


Thank You
Bill Hartzer
Director of Search Engine Optimization
Standing Dog
www.StandingDog.com
Twitter: @StandingDog
Facebook: Facebook.com/standingdog
Personal Blog: www.BillHartzer.com
Twitter: @Bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/bhartzer


Google Penguin, Google Panda, and Google Algorithms 2013

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