Make Money Online- the baby steps part 22

It´s time to take a look at some of the recent changes that Google and the other search engine providers have done as of lately in “Make Money Online- the baby steps part 22″. In February of 2011, Google released its panda update. The release was a schocker for big parts of the internet marketing community. There were protests, cheers, tears and laughter. To make a long story short, the panda update meant that some sites got their page ranks devastated, and some were elevated. This was due to a new algorithm by Google which basically rewarded high-quality sites and penalized low-quality sites. We can´t really understand what the fuss is about. Google made the web a better place, in one big swoop, as far as we are concerned. A lot of border-line internet marketers and SEO tricksters were buried in the process. Unfortunately in the initial update, some quality sites were affected as well, but most of that was fixed in future updates. one of the main effects of the panda update was that ad-rich websites were degraded while social networking sites and news portals were upgraded in the Google rankings.

One of the key components of the update we found particularly beneficial for the web was the fact that websites that had amassed a large number of low-quality backlinks were penalized. Among those were corporate giants like Forbes and JCPenney. What this means is that you can safely devote more time to make your site a better place, and spend less time building backlinks from shady websites whose only purpose is to trade low-quality links for traffic, and the occasional ad revenues this traffic generates. We know of quite a few sites that are dominating a particular keyword or niche, by having ridiculous amounts of low-quality backlinks poiting in their direction. Some of these websites have been crippled, but there are still plenty of them around.

So what does the Google Panda Update mean for you and your website project? As far as we are concerned it represents nothing but a better working environment. Specifically, what the panda update does is it creates incentives and since Google is the company making most of the internet rules at the moment you had better listen closely. The incentives can be classified into two different categories; things you want to avoid and things you want to focus on.

Let´s start by having a look at what things we need to avoid if we don´t want to get penalized. Google wants us to have quality links. If we have too many low-quality links, however we could end up being penalized. In general, what this means is that you want to avoid links that have the following characteristics:

1.Sites with little or no quality content. There is lots of spun content out there and sites that don´t neccessarily weed out the “bad” content from the good are deemed low-quality as far as backlinks are concerned.

2. Extensive advertising. Sites that go heavy on advertising are deemed as representing low-quality links. Avoid getting backlinks from these sites as it will probably do more harm than good for your website. As far as your own ads are concerned you might want not to overdo the ads “above the fold”. What this means is that you don´t want too much ad placement in the screen you see when you first come to a website. Everything you see before you start scrolling down is considered “above the fold” and the more advertising there is in this area, the higher likelihood of poor search results.

3. Little traffic but plenty of content. There are sites out there with quite a high page rank but little relevant traffic. A site with lots of content but no traffic has alienated itself from people. It is often there for other reasons. Avoid getting backlinks from these kind of sites. They will ultimately prove to be a net negative for you site.

4. Little or no moderation. Same goes here. if a site has no moderation it is typically there not to cater to the needs, wants and interests of humans looking for content. Avoid links from these kind of sites.

Thats the incentives for what not to do in order to thrive under the new ground rules established by the panda update. Well, as it turns out, the thing to do is pretty straightforward and easy to remember:

1. Produce quality content. As far as you keep producing quality content and not doing too much of the shady SEO stuff you will be a lot better of with regards to your rankings. This is by the way why we love Google. By weeding out some of the more malfunctioning pieces of the web they allow for the true roses to catch hold and grow. The web will be a better place because of it. At least that is what we feel.

After the panda updates new updates have kept coming. There is a lot of frustration in the internet marketing community because of this. We see that as a good sign. A big part of the internet marketing game has been about being able to rank high in a certain niche. Many have achieved their elevated rankings not because they have the best content, but because they knew more about the system than anybodey else, and more importantly they knew how to game the system in order to come out on top. But the artificial intelligence of the Google bots is starting to catch up. While, the panda update has certainly not put an end to all of these questionable practices it has delivered a severe blow.

We believe that future updates from google will continue in the same direction. Quality content and returning visitors will be the name of the game, and manipulation and behaviour that is gaming the system will continue to be targeted. This corresponds well with everything we have conveyed so far. We have kept mumbling about content for some time now. And for good reason, it turns out. It has been said that in the chess game of internet success content is king. Well after the panda updates, content is not only king. Content IS the whole damn chessboard.

Join us as we look at some additional trends to be aware of in “Make Money Online- the baby steps part 23″. We are approaching the end of our journey together, and we hope you will join us for the remainder of the ride.