Google Panda: Changing the Face of SEO...again

by Alyssa Ast

Even months after the new Google Panda requirements for indexing have been in place, the results of these changes continue to trickle down, changing the face of SEO as we know it. Yes, keywords/phrases, quality content and links are still the backbone to search engine optimization, but now, new elements are coming into play that are crucial to obtain and maintain a high search engine ranking-- so get ready to feel the sting of the Panda once again.

The Google Panda requirements are now evaluating website brands, social interactions and the user's behavior on websites when indexing a site.

The Changing Face of SEO

Branding.-- If you're a small time business, your goal for a high SERP ranking just became harder as Google is now looking at banding when ranking content. What was once considered to be spammy, is now an essential component for website ranking. The bigger the brand, the higher the ranking. As a result, it's going to be very difficult for small time brands to rank over the competition. However, it's not impossible for the smaller businesses to rank. This is where hyperlinking becomes essential. Linking your website to the higher brands will aid with your ranking, but in my opinion, who wants to link to their competition? Seems like an unfair battle, but if you develop your site correctly and get your website out there as much as possible, you will stand a fighting chance.

Social Interactions.-- Now more than ever, you need to put on your social networking hat if you hope to achieve a high SERP ranking. Google's now looking at a website's social interactions: the number of on and off site comments, tweets, mentions, likes and everything in between. Don't like social networking? Too bad. If you want to index well, you better become involved and stay involved or your ranking will suffer.

User Behavior.--You had better make sure users enjoy your site and find it valuable or your ranking is going to feel the sting. Google's looking to user feedback to rank content now. For example, it's not just your bounce rate you have to worry about, but how long it takes a user to click on your website from the results page, if they return to your site, and how they use your site. With this in place, you had better make certain you keep your reader in mind when developing a website.

It's understandable Google is trying to weed out the lower and irrelevant websites, but are they making it too difficult for the honest underdogs to succeed? What do you think? Will the changing face of SEO help the average Joe with ranking, or hinder their success?

The Fundamentals of SEO for the Average Joe

By Alyssa Ast
Paperback, 44 pages
Preview Price: $5.99
Ships in 3–5 business days

'The Fundamentals of SEO for the Average Joe' is a valuable resource for increasing web traffic and profit potential. Author Alyssa Ast provides the basics of SEO (search engine optimization) in a clear and concise format. This resource also explains how SEM works to improve traffic and SERP's ranking. The combination of these methods ensures website visibility and profit probability.


'The Fundamentals of SEO for the Average Joe' is an inclusive and easy-to-understand explanation of SEO and all of the related topics. Author Alyssa Ast is an SEO and SEM expert and shares her knowledge in a clear and simple way that nearly anyone can understand. This is a valuable resource that any writer who produces online content in any form could use to increase not only website hits, but also income. Highly recommended!
Angela Atkinson
Freelance Writer and Editor

You can purchase this book in both ebook and print editions!

Available on Amazon Kindle!

The Basics to a Successful Landing Page

by Alyssa Ast

When creating a website, it's important to understand the basics to a successful landing page. The landing page is the page you want your websites' visitors to land on when viewing your website from a search engines' results. If you aren't careful, your visitors could land on the incorrect page, such as a resource page, and find your website irrelevant. As a result, your bounce rate is likely to increase, while your website's success is reduced.

The Basics to a Successful Landing Page
The most important aspect of a landing page is ideal optimization. Correctly optimized content will ensure the correct landing page. However, you must not duplicate keywords or phrases on the other websites' pages or the optimization won't work. The keywords and phrases must be unique on each page, as well as the titles and URLs.

Your landing page also needs to be easy to navigate. Keep in mind the images, videos and ads you place on your landing page. You don't want them to draw your reader away for the page's content. You must also choose the location of the ads, videos and images carefully because the Google Panda platform penalizes ranking when placed incorrectly, as well as the load time for your webpages.

The website's content should be easy to find from the landing page with little confusing. The tabs for the additional webpages need to be clearly labeled with a concise title to direct your visitors.

Ideally, you should spend a little more time working on your landing page than the other pages of your website. With this extra effort, you can ensure your visitors will land on the correct page of your website.

What techniques have you found to be helpful when building a landing page?

Busting SEO Myths: You Have to Use a High Keyword Density

by Alyssa Ast

There are many SEO myths roaming around, one of which includes the common notion that a high keyword density is needed in order to produce benefits. But in fact, a high keyword density will actually harm your ranking and possibly get you flagged for spamming.

The keyword density is the number of times a keyword/phrase appears within your text. You might think it would be better for ranking to use more keywords, but this couldn't be further from the truth. The more times a keyword is used, the lower your content will index on a search engine. It makes your content flow unnaturally, which often makes it read as though the content is forced and over stuffed with unnecessary words.

When search engines find content that's packed with keywords, they rank it low because it's considered to be irrelevant content. If this occurs too often, they will consider the content you post as spam, which can lead to penalties and banishment from the search engine.

Although there's much debate over the correct density level to use, it's generally considered to be safe to use a density level ranging from 4% to 7%; however, some people prefer density levels as low as 2%, while others prefer their density level to be as high as 8%. Basically, it all boils down to personal preference and what density level you feel works well for you.

Do you have SEO myths you would like to see busted? Email alyssa_ast@yahoo.com!

Busting SEO Myths: A Longer Word Count is Best

by Alyssa Ast

One of the greatest SEO myths is that you must stick with a certain word count to achieve any benefits. It's often said that you should stick with one of three word counts-- 250, 500 and 1,000 words. This couldn't be further from the truth. You shouldn't focus on word count. Instead, you need to focus on creating quality content that engages your reader. After reading your content, the reader should feel as though they have learned something, while not being bored to death in the process.

Busting SEO Myths
Believing that a longer word count is best is just nonsense, unless a word count is specified by a client. You can stick with a shorter word count as long as you've accurately covered the topic clearly and concisely. The content should flow naturally, and your reader shouldn't be able to depict what your keywords/phrases are. Your readers should feel as though the information they just read is valuable and interesting. If you've accomplished these things, your job is complete.

Don't drag the content out just to make it longer. This will bore your reader and cause him to lose interest, which will result in lost page views.

Bottom line, as long as you've correctly optimized the content with the perfect density level and created a quality piece of content, don't focus on the word count.

Have you heard SEO myths you would like busted? Email alyssa_ast@yahoo.com to have your myth revealed!