One of the most significant aspects of internet marketing in today’s world is the ability to be highly ranked in Google’s search engine. The most recent update to the algorithms used by this engine – Google Panda 4.0 – has thrown many website and business owners off as they try to remain at a good ranking for their keywords. As with any Google update, some websites have been benefited by the change, while others are now struggling because of it.

Some Panda Tips Directly from Google

Spam, Junk, and Outdated Content

Google search results primarily look for high quality, fresh, and useful content. A website that can provide these values generally ranks highly on results from Google searches. The Panda update is designed to strengthen these values, and has updated its algorithms to target websites that contain spam or copied content, and rank them less favorably. This means that a site containing copied content, or one that is not updated often, is going to be the most heavily hurt by the Panda 4.0 update. Websites designed to host press releases are among some of the hardest hit by the update. eBay is another website that lost traffic after the update because of its nature of primarily containing low quality content.

Here are some industry recognized sources discussing Google Panda a bit further.

• http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2287290/Google-Panda-Penguin-Phantom-3-Recovery-Examples
• http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/06/12/how-googles-panda-40-algorithm-update-helped-glass.aspx
• http://www.mediabistro.com/prnewser/what-you-need-to-know-about-panda-4-0_b93839
• http://searchengineland.com/google-begins-rolling-panda-4-0-now-192043
• http://www.businessinsider.com/google-panda-40-update-winners-and-losers-2014-5

Blogging

In light of the nature of the update, the obvious solution is to keep your site up-to-date with fresh, relevant content. If your website has been negatively affected by the update, it means that as far as Google is concerned, it does not contain useful, fresh content. Blogging is a good way to combat this. By keeping a relevant blog and updating it on a regular basis, websites maintain search engine optimization while keeping a good ranking. It is also advisable for blog posts to be written by someone who is already a part of the company that owns the website. This way, content is kept authentic by both the company’s standards and by Google’s.

Some Panda Tips Directly from Rand Fishkin

Planned Content

Although blogging is an excellent example of something that someone can do to begin bolstering their rankings for the new Google algorithm, it is only one action that will not on its own save a struggling site. If Google Panda is suddenly hurting your company, then it is very likely that you do not have an active plan in place that allows for a website that is regularly updated with fresh, high quality content. It is vital to have a content marketing strategy that accommodates who a website is trying to reach, why they are trying to reach them, how it will reach them, and why that audience should want to be reached. Having a plan and process is essential to managing to maintain rankings in Google Panda 4.0.

Websites now require more regular updates to remain in Google’s good graces. In most cases, websites that are commonly updated with useful content will do well after this update. On the other hand, websites with recycled content that are allowed to remain stale will more likely than not find themselves buried amidst thousands of other similar webpages far away from page 1.