Today Google have rolled out a new data refresh which is called the Panda 3.9 update. This data refresh looks into improving the Panda model by rewarding good quality content. Google will now look at your article and judge it on whether it has been written by a skilled professional or just a keen enthusiast who knows the subject really well. It also examines the shallowness of a piece of writing. Now I know what some of you guys are thinking – if the standard of writing has to be better what will happen to the businesses that have to do it themselves and don’t have the money to hire professionals to write their content? Well Google has an algorithm which helps sites rank well who do not do SEO so this benefits you, all you can do is write as best as you can by talking to your customers in a fun and friendly way, try to keep it clear from spelling mistakes and grammatical errors otherwise you will suffer as part of this new update.
Panda 3.9 Broken Down
Trust factor has always been a ranking factor, but now Google is classifying website articles based on the quality of the content. If the information you present is not accurate you will suffer in rankings. If the content is spun or scraped you will lose trust factor.
Articles must be relevant
Content Relevancy has been updated so if you are writing articles just to catch on to the latest buzz and get up the rankings it won’t happen. You have to write relevant articles aimed toward your reader’s interest and it has to be relevant to your niche.
The copy must be original
If your piece of writing has some originality to it you will benefit and that is great. However, if your content is spun from another person’s work Google is very good at catching on to this and comes down hard on that website as a whole. All research has to be from the individual or Company that wrote the article, all reports, evidence, and evaluation have to come from the author themself.
Compare your content to your competitors
If you are concerned why one of your key terms is struggling in the rankings then compare the page to your competitors. This is what Google does, it looks at your content and judges if yours is better or worse than your competitors. If you have no content or next to no content on your page this is a clear sign that you have to write something good on that page.
Tell both sides of the story
Does the article slant to one side in regards to the facts that are being presented, does it convey all sides of the story? The best way to do this would be to give both sides of the argument then evaluate that information and give your professional opinion.
Your brand must be respected in the industry
Google looks at the power of your brand and checks if you have any authority or respect in your industry. This is why it is not wise to write articles about unrelated topics where you have no expertise. Gone are the days when large Companies just wrote about the latest buzz in the hope they would get some credit for it. The search engines are becoming more wise to these tactics.
Put time into each piece of writing
Does the article appear sloppy and hastily put together, is it structured well and took some time to put together? Writings must be insightful and convey an astute awareness to critically evaluative a topic/subject. Try to push the boundaries through your abounding knowledge in that field; we all have something special we can offer the online world.
The holistic approach is better
Does your article go deep into a topic? Does it look at all aspects and examine each part in turn? Well if it doesn’t then maybe you have written something that could be viewed as weak and shallow. If you write something that is already widely known then you will get scored down, however if you illustrate something insightful or revelatory that would interest your readers, then you are on your way to writing something compelling. To go deep into a matter is much better than just rewriting someone’s thoughts. Try to take care and give it all the love and attention it needs to be a decent piece of writing.
The Panda 3.9 Conclusion
Google is constantly upping the game, and with this recent update I think it is safe to say that we all better watch out when writing content to publish either on our own site or somewhere else. As I mentioned yesterday, in my blog coincidentally, Google is looking to improve the amount of rubbish being written on the web. This update favours anyone who is considered an expert in their field. It takes practice to write something compelling and informative but if I was you I would begin learning how to write great content as soon as possible, let me know your thoughts out there?