The first quarter of 2012 is not yet over; however, we have already seen lots of changes in the search industry most especially from the recent Panda 3.3 update, which Google has launched on the last week of February.
Panda 3.3, though initially reported to only have something to do with the data freshness update, has recently been confirmed by Google as the version wherein they made new changes with regards to their link evaluation algorithm, the one they have been using for years. Along with this search update is also the implementation of some traditional algorithm metrics which aim to improve local search results.
These recent changes in Google’s search ranking factors, has once again, put most search marketers skills to a test, on how to keep up with the ever improving search engine capabilities to filter contents and penalize websites.
Recommended Website Design and SEO Tips for 2012
It is a common knowledge in the SEO world that Google implements around 500 changes in their search engine algorithm annually. Search engines use 200 or more factors in ranking a website and these factors also undergo several changes and improvements as search companies like Google continue to polish their system to give their online users better search experience.
Below are some important website design and SEO tips to keep your website up to date with the recent algorithm changes in major search engines.
Always focus in producing quality content regularly– You should have a regular stream of fresh contents on your website. Make it a habit to publish a new post every day or every other day. Regular publication of articles will signal search engines that your site is worthy of being crawled at regular basis. If your website is crawled by search engines more often, you won’t have any problems of indexing your contents, thus increasing the probability of ranking high in search engine result pages.
You should also incorporate more contents on your site that will make user experience better. Remember that Google Panda uses user experience metrics in determining if your website is worthy of being ranked. From here comes the importance on how your website design is implemented.
Focus in developing a simpler website design – Your website design structure should complement your SEO efforts. The main factor that constitutes better user experience is the ease of use. Your website design should be user-friendly. Avoid displaying lots of ads especially those pop-up dialogues that can scare visitors away. A white back-ground is always recommended though it is not necessary. Your background and font colors should be balanced and should be in harmony with you site’s overall structure. Create navigational links and buttons which can improve user experience.
Do necessary on-page SEO changes – Check for crawl errors using Google Webmaster Tools and be mindful of proper usage of heading structures. View your website in the users’ perspectives. Avoid unnecessary headings and redundancy of keywords.
Increase social media exposure and sharing – Install social media sharing buttons to enable your readers to share your content to various social media networks. Search engines nowadays also look at social interactions as one of the factors in ranking a website.
Only focus in doing ethical link-building tactics – This is one important factor that should be considered by search marketers if they want to avoid future penalties from search engines. Creating back-links on spammy websites, auto-link creation, and usage of any black-hat SEO tactics to create fake website commendations are practices that should not be practiced in 2012 and the next years to come.
Here at One SEO Company, our experienced SEO professionals are well-updated with latest changes in search engine algorithms. We are always ready to help website owners to successfully recover from the hit caused by Google Panda. Contact us today for a free website analysis.
