In the last post on this subject we went over how Google Panda has changed the game of Search Engine Marketing. In this post, I’d like to provide a few strategies for overcoming the impact of Panda and achieving SEO success.
1. Reduce Your Dependence on Google altogether
If Google is your primary source for search traffic, even a minor rank change could have a huge impact on traffic and conversion. By routing your traffic through other engines and other marketing mediums, you reduce the impact any change in Google’s query results may have. “Avoid it” may seem like an obvious strategy for marketing your way around Panda, but ideally you should already be focused on other mediums anyway.
2. Use Actionable KPIs to Measure Success
A lot of SEO metrics are useless since most webmaster tools are focused on things you have no leverage over, or are only useful when used with other metrics (such as visits, page views, and average time spent on page). Bounce rate, micro and macro conversion rates, revenue, and visitor loyalty are all actionable metrics that you can manipulate with a little effort.
3. Build Community
Google currently uses Twitter’s feed and some info from public social media pages like Facebook to influence rankings. Rather than trying to build SEO links through your social media pages, start establishing earned press from your social media fans and supporters. Start a dialogue with your visitors and customers through Twitter, Facebook, or your own online community. Getting good media and comments from your social networks can yield great referred traffic.
It’s a great idea to place a “like” and a “re-tweet” button at the beginning and end of every blog post or article. This makes it easy for the visitor to express themselves by sharing your content with their friends.
4. Quality Evergreen Content
Even with Google Panda in force, there’s nothing that will drive traffic to your site like quality evergreen content. Even if you don’t achieve the search rankings you want, you absolutely must continue to provide the best content. Anything less will cause visitors to seek what they want and need elsewhere. Even if you’re not getting much search traffic, you can more than make up for it through social media referrals and word of mouth. Generate quality content, and searchers will find you.
