After Google rolled out its Panda update, I had to make some significant changes to my websites. Although I had been following best SEO practices for a while, I knew that it was necessary to review my websites to make sure that they fit in with the new algorithms.

1. The Panda Update Changed
Everything When It Comes To SEO
Practices
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3. After Google rolled out its Panda update, I had
to make some significant changes to my
websites. Although I had been following best
SEO practices for a while, I knew that it was
necessary to review my websites to make sure
that they fit in with the new algorithms.
Despite the cute name, many people have
considered Panda a dangerous beast. This is
because Panda significantly impacted the way
we all do SEO. The ostensible purpose of the
Panda update was to reduce rankings for sites
that Google considered low-quality, however
there was a huge uproar from many
webmasters who considered the changes
unfair.

4. How I Updated My SEO Practices
• As a website designer, I take pride in creating websites
that are high quality. However, I also understand that
quality, like beauty, is something that lies in the eye of
the beholder. What I may consider beautiful, aesthetic
and valuable may not necessarily be what appeals to
Google's search engine crawlers. This suspicion was
verified when I heard about some genuine sites, sites
that offered much value to human visitors, had been
penalized by Google.
After reviewing my websites, comparing them to what
Panda considered as websites that offered human
visitors high-value, I made five fundamental changes.

5. How I Updated My SEO Practices
Here are the changes I made to make sure that
my websites did not face any penalties:
One, I reviewed the number of ads on my
websites. Apparently, having too many ads on
a website can hurt ranking. Google considers
too many ads as distracting and taking away
from the value of the content.

6. Two, I reviewed the quality of content on my
website. I had heard that duplicate content,
auto blogging, and other practices were taboo.
For this reason, I made sure that I either wrote
all the content myself or hired reputable
writers to create original content for all my
websites. I also wanted to make sure that my
content was highly engaging, enticing visitors
to stay on the website longer-- and this is why I
spiced them up with more images and video
content. Furthermore, in those instances
where I was using legitimate scrapers, relying
on other sources for published information, I
made sure that I added value to the
information by adding my own views to
syndicated content. There are three effective
ways, I found to do this: one, add previews;
two, add reviews; or three, add relevant
commentary like defining something more
clearly or expanding on an interesting point.

7. Two, I reviewed the quality of content on my
website. I had heard that duplicate content,
auto blogging, and other practices were taboo.
For this reason, I made sure that I either wrote
all the content myself or hired reputable
writers to create original content for all my
websites. I also wanted to make sure that my
content was highly engaging, enticing visitors
to stay on the website longer-- and this is why I
spiced them up with more images and video
content. Furthermore, in those instances
where I was using legitimate scrapers, relying
on other sources for published information, I
made sure that I added value to the
information by adding my own views to
syndicated content. There are three effective
ways, I found to do this: one, add previews;
two, add reviews; or three, add relevant
commentary like defining something more
clearly or expanding on an interesting point.

8. Three, on those mini-sites where I had less
than five pages of content, I added articles that
would prove helpful for readers. I did not add
these articles all at once, but periodically so
that they could be perceived as fresh content. I
knew that Panda was targeting websites that
had insufficient pages, regardless of how well
written those pages might be. In addition, I
made sure that this content offered visitors
usable information. The more interesting
content is the longer visitors will stay to read
the entire piece rather than skimming over it.
A website is considered an authority site based
on its quantity, much more than how well the
information is researched and written. Look at
it this way: search engine spiders are not
literary critics. They just infer something is
valuable indirectly based on page views,
quantity, visitor duration, and so on.

9. Four, I made sure that my web designs offered
easy navigation and had all the elements
necessary to be considered user-friendly.
When users can find what they're looking for
quickly and easily, then they will stay on your
website longer. Google can plot how they
navigate from one page to another and how
long they stay on each page. Reducing your
bounce rate will improve your site rankings.
Five, I made sure that my websites were
participatory; in other words, I encouraged
reader engagement and content sharing. I
made sure that it was easy for visitors to share
content on a wide variety of social media
websites. This was easy to do because of the
number of plug-ins available.

10. Wrapping It Up
Overall, I did what I could to improve brand
building. One way to do this is to get
mentioned on Facebook and Twitter, as well as
other social media platforms. Getting a
website mentioned raises social awareness
and indirectly builds a brand.
Today, I still continue to study what the recent
Panda updates mean for website designers.
Although I had done this with previous
updates, the Panda update appears to be one
of the most dramatic ones that Google has
ever rolled out. It has not only precipitated a
need for making numerous changes, but it also
has had a sweeping effect on how everyone
does SEO from now on.