If you have been hit by Google’s Penguin update (also called web-spam update) or would like to make sure you don’t get penalized in the future with any of your site’s update then this checklist is very helpful to safely optimize your site for Google Search Engine and to become a strong candidate for higher organic traffic.
As the Google has described Penguin update as a web-spam update then it’s the likelihood to pursue Google’s recommendation in order to make sure that your site doesn’t contain any of the practices that they may perceive as search engine spammers.
Here is your checklist to beat the penguin update through on-page optimization:
1. Don’t give up or walk away
It’s understood and yet is very important for you to understand that it’s not unlikely that Google has been changing their algorithms all the time. Most people just give up and walk away from the run if hit or penalized by such updates. You would require having a complete data–driven mechanism to improve ranking. The one who don’t measure the data would end up getting trapped at any time.
2. Restrict over optimization in all your page titles
If possible go back and check for the over optimized page titles. If found, immediately make changes and eliminate unwanted keyword stuffing. Over optimization refers to the use of too many keywords in every page title. Try to create page titles easy to understand and easy to remember.
3. Create unique Meta tags for every page
Most people just avoid taking extra effort, for them creating an article itself is a huge task. That is the reason after writing an article they just want to publish it anyway, and just copying Meta tags and Meta descriptions from previous pages. That is a wrong habit. You should avoid it today. Duplicating Meta data is the biggest sign of spammers. You shouldn’t be one of them.
4. Evaluate the anchor test used in internal links
After Google Penguin update, it has been clear that you should avoid using the same anchor text all the time. In the past, this practice had been very successful in regards to get SEO benefits, but now it’s a signal towards spammers. Make variations in anchor text. 40% use of anchor text in internal links is perceived to be the safest link profile optimization to beat the Penguin update.
5. Make sure the essential site elements
Web spammers are really in hurry. They are just very much careless in regards to the essential site elements. Google gives extra value to the site that contains the right elements such as an About page, a Contact page, a Privacy Policy page, and Site Map (XML sitemap and HTML sitemap).
6. Speed of a site matters
Most likely people avoid browsing those sites which take longer time to download. There is a direct relation between the download speed of a site and the bounce rate. People just walk away if the site doesn’t load fast. In order to speed up your site you can make some changes such as deleting unwanted widgets, plugins, HTML codes; reducing the size of images and videos; avoiding flash animation, etc.
7. Add social signals to your site
These days, social networking sites are getting more and more reputations and positive signals. By looking such great advantages, it’s now your responsibility to allow people to share your content through various social sites such as Facebook or Twitter. Number of Likes and Tweets send positive feedback towards Google about your site.
Stay tuned as in another post I would discuss on off-page optimization checklist to beat the Google’s Penguin update.