In order to stay current on your SEO knowledge you have to keep an eye on the big G. Doing so you'll learn some of the latest ways to optimize your blog for Google because after all, it's the one that really counts.
Lately there's been some major changes that may impact your blog and I figured you guys would like to see some of the better resources on the subject.
There is a ton of uproar over the latest update that changed the search algorithm, being tagged as the farmer update.
Aimed at taking action on content farms, which is primarily websites/blogs that only feature shallow or low-quality content.
But what does that really mean? How do I make sure I'm not lumped into those sites?
Basically the thing you want to focus on is make sure your content is original for starters. Copying and pasting just like in school is CHEATING and will obviously get you know where under Google's watchful eye.
If you've done this in the past those old pages will affect your entire site.
I'm not recommending deleting 80% of your posts but if you have a few "half assed" posts that you threw up by just copying and pasting an article, I would suggest you can it.
It's always a smart idea to do this anyway regardless of Google's latest changes. Let's remember who really matters to you, your readers they don't want to see junk content either.
So have a national cleaning day and go through and get rid of some of your worst posts, spring is coming up, maybe that would be a good time to look through and cleanse your blog of junk posts.
Depending on the age of your blog you may get a kick out of seeing how far you've come looking at some of your old posts. You could even learn a few lessons on what not to write about again when you go a bit further and look at that post's traffic.
That's easy to accomplish using analytics such as Google Analytics, it's what I use and it works well with blogs.
Another thing that goes along with being original is do your own research. Coming up with your own findings will ensure your post is yours and yours alone. Then who knows someone might actually link to your posts instead of them collecting dust.
Because there's nothing bloggers love more than new information that's not out there on the blogosphere yet.
One more way to confirm your posts are up to par for the update is quite simply, create useful content. If you can help people out and answer people's questions that's a sure-fire way to clinch Google's attention.
I've barely noticed a decline in my traffic since the update and I it's because I follow some of these simple rules and my entire site is full of these type of posts.
If you look at exactly what Matt Cutt's says the update targets what I've told you is the best strategy to counteract it so your blog can thrive.
Quality is the keyword now more than ever, you may have to change the entire way you blog, or maybe not. Maybe you have to spend more time on your posts, or perhaps do a little bit more digging for your research. The update will for sure give you more stiff competition against the already deemed "high-quality" sites. As it will rank those sites even higher now, the answer to this is make sure the whole of your site has good content. So open up some "Windows" and turn on some music and clean out the basement of your blog this weekend. We all have some junk down there, admit it!
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