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Article Overview
Once your website has been penalised by the Google Penguin and Panda update, the issues that will arise for your business are quick and immediate.
That is, once your website has disappeared from the search results, it is more than likely that sales and revenues are going to start to fall.
This is catastrophic for all business owners that rely on Google to generate website traffic. Penguin and Panda penalties are the most common penalties and businesses all over Australia are getting smashed by them because of the really bad and overly dodgy practices of their SEO providers. But first, you need to know the difference between both updates. The Panda update according to Moz was to reward high-quality websites and diminish the presence of low-quality websites in Google’s organic search engine results. The main triggers for the Panda update are websites with thin or duplicate content and sites that lack authority with poorly written copy that’s outdated and irrelevant. Wikipedia tells us that the Penguin Update was a codename for a Google algorithm update that was first announced on April 24, 2012. The update was aimed at decreasing search engine rankings of websites that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines by using now declared Grey Hat SEM techniques involved in increasing artificially the ranking of a webpage by manipulating the number of links pointing to the page.
At SEO Sydney Experts we can ( once your website has been hit), implement an SEO Penalty Assessment Plan of Action aimed at firstly identifying the type of Google penalty you have and secondly the steps involved in eliminating the penalty and restoring all your previous rankings.
Restoring your rankings post-Panda / Penguin usually takes anywhere between 8-12 weeks and will involve in-depth reporting as well as constant communication between yourself and our company.
Related post: Google Penalty – How to get your Google rankings back
How to recover from a penguin or panda penalty update
Inbound link analysis
This is such an important part of the process because it’s usually the over optimisation of links that have got your website hit by the dreaded penguin/panda. We use very sophisticated tracking tools to find out where these links are coming from and look at ways to immediately solve the problem of too many inorganic links. Essentially, what we need to do is get these links removed ASAP – they have been implemented by your previous or current SEO company because they really do not know what they were doing and they felt that any link is a good link. This is not the case and Google has clamped down heavily on this type of activity. This is really the end result of both Penguin and Panda – identifying over ‘spammy’ links is the job of these algorithmic updates. Most of the links are from really bad sources and our job as penalty recovery experts is to clean this serious mess up! In essence, we have to get rid of all links pointing to your site that look irrelevant and out of context. I’d go so far as to say these include most directory links that are common practice amongst most SEO agencies that do not have a real strategy in place.
We contact the owners of the websites that these links are on and ask them to be removed. In some cases this is a quick process, but and I hate to say this, in many other cases it is a long and arduous task as these webmasters are difficult to get in touch with and often demand payment to have these links removed. Luckily, we know what we are doing and are able to really push this process along. Removing these inbound links are going to appease the Penguin and Panda algorithms. For links that we are unable to remove or cannot contact the website owners to remove these links, there is a way around this by asking Google to disavow these links. In essence, we are asking them to not count these links as part of your backlink profile. You can learn more about how to disavow links here.
We check all your on-page Panda / Penguin violations and correct and web pages that do not adhere to these guidelines. Often this is a matter of addressing titles and descriptions, but there are others like; page speeds, download times and content duplication. Once we have clearly identified the areas of concern, we are very quick to make the necessary amends. Duplicate and thin on-page content is a real issue with many websites – so we really hammer home this point with our penalised clients. In some cases, they will need to rewrite the content of their main landing pages with new, fresh and informative copy which is known as content marketing which can be in many instances be a quick fix. You will need to engage the services of a copywriter that can write new copy for your whole website.
Panda and Penguin Repair Services
Once we have identified all issues we are then ready to apply our services to help repair the damage. Once we have made a legitimate attempt to get rid of each and every inorganic backlink, and once we have made every conceivable effort to clean up the actual website we are then ready to email and file for a request for reconsideration. This is a technical task and should never be undertaken by a person who has no experience in such matters. Google takes these requests extremely seriously so you DO NOT WANT TO STUFF them up and make a mistake.
The filing is quick, but Google on the other hand can take several weeks to get back to you. It’s a nervous anxious waiting period, but as in the past, most of the consideration requests we have filed have been successful. Why? Because we are extremely thorough, methodical and clinical in our approach to Penguin and Panda recovery.
Panda and Penguin scams
Unfortunately, like with SEO, there are companies out there that will prey on innocent business owners who are frantic and extremely upset because their website rankings have gone. Desperate people wanting quick fixes are an easy target for these scammers and you really have to be on the lookout and on high alert for these people. Here are some of the scams and tricks they use to get you to use them for your Penguin and Panda Penalties:
1) they get you to sign up with them through a contract and make sure you commit to using their services for an extended period of time.
2) they are not locally based and probably somewhere offshore. Overseas costs may be cheaper and because your income has dropped the temptation to save money now can be a great lure – NEVER and I repeat NEVER go offshore for this – you want a local provider that you can meet regularly to discuss strategies and options. REMEMBER, it is these types of cheap, bogus operators that got you into this pickle in the first place – Learn the lesson and move on!!
3) they are advertising on Adwords that they can get you out of the penguin and panda penalty – these are the worst kind of crooks and will usually just take your initial payment and do a runner. You will have no course of action as they are based overseas.
To really get out of these types of penalties, ideally, you need to be working with a company that you can PHYSICALLY VISIT and discuss a long term strategy not only for your immediate ranking recovery but also for your post search engine optimisation. That’s right. Once you are back you are going to need a good team ( this time) to handle your SEO – not a bunch of hoons who are out for a quick buck!