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How Have The Google Changes Affected Your Websites Ranking?

October, 08 2012
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Jo Stephens
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Over the past year and a half, Google has integrated two major algorithmic changes that have affected the rankings of numerous websites. In February of 2011, it was the Panda Update. This was designed to penalize websites with low quality or duplicated content. One of the primary targets was “content farms” that produced generic articles with the intention of cashing in on ad revenue.

In April of 2012, it was the Penguin Update. This focused primarily on penalizing websites that used black hat SEO techniques such as spamming and cloaking. Although this change affected fewer websites at around 3%, it hurt many online businesses. It reduced their ranking, and ultimately, their organic traffic. Penguin helped do away with a lot of spammers and individuals with questionable marketing ethics. It also hurt many legitimate law websites and other businesses who simply didn’t understand the difference between black hat and white hat SEO techniques. Consequently, there were many people who were upset by the changes that wanted to know how they can fix the situation and climb the Google rankings once more.

Don’t Fret!

Fortunately, there are several things that a lawyer website can do to regain its Google love. First, it’s important to create high quality content on a consistent basis. Content should never be plagiarized or duplicated, and if necessary it’s recommended to hire a professional writer. Taking this step should counteract Panda and help a lawyer website establish some credibility with Google.

Next, it’s necessary to perform proper link building. For example, doing things like paying for a bunch of links or participating in link exchanges should be avoided because they offer little link value and are often seen as being spammy in Google’s eyes. Instead, it’s much better to get fewer links from highly reputable websites that have a high page ranking. Doing so should improve the chances of climbing the rankings because it makes a website seem more trustworthy.

In addition, it’s critical to link only from relevant websites. For example, law websites wouldn’t want links from a pet supply store. Relevancy is now of the utmost importance and being relevant can provide a major SEO boost.

Do you want to see your site with a new look?