The Fallout From Panda Keeps, Well, Falling...

The fallout from Google's recent algorithm update - aimed at weeding out "low quality sites", which have low value and add little original content - continues to reverberate around the SEO industry.  Content farms may have been cleansed from the rankings, but it would appear that many more sites have experienced in some cases quite drastic reductions in traffic from Google as a result of the new implementation.

Unsurprisingly, it seems to have been quite the topic of conversation at SES (Search Engine Strategies) New York 2011 this week.  The update has only affected Google in the US so far, so it's worth understanding the implications (and getting a head start) before it hits elsewhere.  A round table discussion from Search Engine Watch entitled Panda: The Aftermath produced some advice we think is worth sharing:

* Go back over the basics. Are your spelling, grammar and punctuation all up to scratch?

* Check your links.  If there are links all over the place internally, that's going to knock you down the listings.

* Ensure your site has lots of well written, original content, with a healthy balance between content and ads.

* Try to keep bounce rates to a minimum. Rightly or wrongly, Google interprets this as meaning the site has low user value (often arguable, but we won't go into that now).

* Expand your traffic sources; don't rely completely on Google.

This discussion will run on and on, especially once the new algorithm starts expanding outside of the US and has to deal with content sites written in many more languages.  However, it's a reminder to keep in mind the following SEO basics: top quality, well written, authoritative content will go a long way towards high rankings.