There has been a lot of talk in 2011 about the changes at Google, which we all refer to as Panda. That Panda caused quite a stir in the SEO community and everybody seemed to have an opinion, or a horror story of the “Panda attacking them”.
In this post I’ll explain some new things I’ve learned about Google and what they’re looking for and also reinforce a few things I’ve mentioned in webinars I’ve done recently on this topic.
Give Google What They Want
I think the key underlying theme, is to give Google what they want and don’t try to trick Google, well not too much anyway!
If we take a step back and look at the organic listings in Google, from Google’s stand point, the most important thing for them is quality. Google introduced what is known as their “Quality Score” for Adwords campaigns some years ago now, which was a way to assess the quality of sites that were using their paid Adwords platform.
Google does this so that they ensure the user experience from people who are clicking their ads is a good one. The biggest threat to Google’s business is people not having a good experience when using Google and deciding, enough is enough, and choosing another search engine or other means of finding what they want. If this happens, Google is done for!
So with that said, you can see why quality control at Google is pretty high on the agenda.
However what’s more interesting is that many SEO marketers heard of the horror stories of people getting their accounts slapped with a low quality score from Google Adwords and having to pay sky high prices for clicks, or worse yet get their accounts shut down completely (which has now happened to a vast majority of affiliates) and perhaps somewhat naively thought “glad I don’t use Adwords…it will not effect me!”. Along comes the Google Panda, on the hunt for low quality sites to chew on, and all of a sudden the tables turn.
My point is, all SEO marketers should have known that Panda was on the agenda, as the organic listings are just as important to Google as their Adwords, because people use Google for the free organic results primarily, and click the ads as a result, so quality across the board is key.
I think the difference is that with Adwords, Google has humans checking accounts more than organic, therefore accurate quality checks were easier to assess. However with more and more human reviewers checking organic listings now, and Google using their feedback, they have now worked quality into their algorithm, hence Google Panda.
What Should We Do Now Then?
The first thing to do is panic, run for your lives now!!!….no only joking, everyone always says the opposite of that, so I couldn’t help myself. Ok so the first thing I suggest doing is start looking at your SEO, and mainly your ‘on page SEO’, from a view point of quality rather than a view point of super optimized.
Content
Quality is now a ranking signal and Google is looking for certain things that tell them that your sites is a quality one. Some obvious indicators are that you have well written, grammatically correct, original content. So be super careful when hiring writers to produce your websites content for you.
I recently hired a writer and only checked one or two articles and even I skimmed then super fast, as I was too busy with other things. However after chatting with a friend about quality, I soon realized that I need to check my content more carefully.
When I did check this content, to my horror I found spelling mistakes and poor grammer all over it, and even worse the content really wasn’t that helpful. If I had arrived on a page with this content, I would have been dissapointed with it.
At all costs, try to make sure your content doesn’t come across as really salesy and only trying to make you money and not help the reader. This is low quality and somewhat sleezy content, and while it might last for a while in Google, they will work it out soon enough, as quality control is only going to keep getting better at Google. On that note, I am not talking about the odd spelling mistake, as we are all human, I mean every fouth word being wrong.
Website Features
Some of the things I’m about to list next, will not apply to everyone, as affiliate marketing sites may not be able to encorporate all of these.
Blog comments – if you can have blog comments, then have them on, and interact with your readers on the site. I do this on this blog, as you’ll see below and on other posts. If your content doesn’t lean towards having people comment on it, then you might want to look at your content and your style of site.
Social links – Social media is only getting bigger, and Google is looking for signals that websites are getting interaction and links from places like Facebook, Twitter and more recently Google +1. The first and most obvious thing to do is add a social link buttons to your content, as I’ve done below. The more interaction you get from these the better, and I assume Google +1 will be a big player soon enough.
I also think, that if you have good content, which of course you will, is to ask your readers to help spread the word by giving you a Google +1. With that said….hint hint…go on click the Google +1 one for me! ha ha…
Low ad to content ratio – Another indication of low quality content is having too many ads in your content. Ads can be in many forms too, such as Adsesne, banners, affiliate links. Again just keep in mind what a quality user experience looks like for you, and don’t go overbaord with your affiliates links. Yes we all know that if you have less affiliate links it will reduce conversions, but the alternative is to lose your rankings when you get slapped with a low quality score and then your conversions are zero!
Important pages – make sure you have pages such as: disclaimer, contact, privacy and any other important pages that you see high quality sites have on them. This is a pretty obvious indicator to Google that you care about your site and take it seriously.
Over Optimization – This is actually something that my friend Jackson pointed out, and is a very good point indeed. Post Panda, you want to be careful not to over optimize your pages so that they look spammy. What this means is, when writing the title for your page, don’t just have the exact keyword, especially if the keyword looks odd.
For example, if you’re trying to rank for “Cheap Wart Cream” then just having that and that alone as your title, does look a little strange, it’s not too bad, but let’s say you were a webmaster that is not intentionally trying to rank in Google and is just writing about wart cream because its your hobby!!! ha ha…anyway, if that were the case, then I think you would not use a title like that, and would probably use something like this “Where to find cheap wart cream online”. You can see the second title looks more natural and less obviously optimized.
Logins – If you can have a way for people to login to your site, such as a forum, then this shows Google your site is important to people and is another indication of quality.
In closing, the main thing to think about when doing your SEO, is always keep QUALITY in mind, and make sure the user has a good experience on your site. You ideally want the kind of site that people like to come back to, like to bookmark, like to read other pages on it. I always take time to write quality posts on this blog, and as a result I can see that people go back through older posts that I write, to see what else they can learn. This is what you want to create on all sites from now on I believe.
That’s all from me, don’t forget to Google +1 me; Thanks!
Regards
Matt
Related articles
Thanks for your very interesting article, It’s answered a few questions for my friends and I and pointed us to look at things from a different perspective.
Keep up the good work.
JJ
Matt Carter Reply:
November 18th, 2011 at 10:39 pm
Thanks John
Very interesting and informative post indeed especially forum on own webpage. I have to admit that I always follow all your blog post. Reading this in your entry, I have even noticed some new information which I haven’t known before. My Google +1 for you Matt. Cheers.
Matt, very good points.
Little (or much) extra effort in content regards will get that quality factor.
Cheers
H
Hi Matt,
I think you are perfectly right. I just built a new site (new domain) with great quality content, long articles, outbound links to authority sources, I did some link building but just the basics to launch the site,it is only exactly one month old and it has a PR2 already (and I don’t have a single link from a high PR page yet). This means that Google pays attention to content and authority a lot more nowadays.
Thanks for your post.
Anne
Matt Carter Reply:
November 18th, 2011 at 11:19 am
Thanks Anne
Matt
Heath Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 5:46 am
Anne,
you just encouraged me alot. I also am starting a new domain, new site, and have been working on backlinks (even though I can’t get an affiliate link for the life of me), and you just gave me an idea. Authority sites have been on the todo list, but they just jumped to the top. What with Matt’s blog and your comment. Thanks,
Heath
Thanks, Matt!!!
Your blog is the first of english seo blogs, which pushed me forward to learn more and more) I hope soon to buy your training courses. Hope, maybe also will be some interesting price offers for them.
Thank you for you great job) Who knows, maybe in future ill be able to speak with you in skype chat;)
Matt I have been following you for a while and I am a buyer of your rapid profit formula which i think is great value. Just wondering if you are going to be doing any post Panda updates to the course.
Matt Carter Reply:
November 18th, 2011 at 11:16 am
HI Mike
I did add an update to the course about a week ago.
Thanks
Matt
Another spot on post, Matt. If you don’t mind, what plug-in do you use that offers +1, Twitter, and Facebook buttons all at once? Thanks.
Matt Carter Reply:
November 18th, 2011 at 11:19 am
Hi Adam
I use this one:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/twitter-facebook-google-plusone-share/
Matt
Very helpful matt! You always have the best posts!
Matt Carter Reply:
November 18th, 2011 at 11:16 am
Thanks Aaron
Quality is VERY important you all! I totally agree with you Matt!
Matt Carter Reply:
November 18th, 2011 at 11:16 am
Thanks Josh
Thank you for this article, I think playing by the book with Google is the best behavior to adopt. having top quality unique articles that are between 600-1000 words is a good start for webmasters. I find it frustrating when I am looking at organic search result, to find websites that are on the 1st page, but they are completely irrelevant to the subject. Therefore I understand Google’s view.
M Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 4:51 am
Exactly, I find it frustrating as well when I find websites on page one that look quite bad on all fronts. While I’m having trouble to rank my sites that should score high in Googles eyes. I hope these sites get removed from the high rankings and make place for better ones such as mine. Right now it feels like I’m working my ass off for nothing.
Top notch post as always Matt, your point on checking outsourced content hit home with me as I recently got a batch of bad writing back and should have also done a more thorough job of checking.
Great article, Matt! Clearly you are assiduously following your own advice. You’ve provided informative, relevant content that I personally found quite helpful.
Thank you!
Grace
Good informative article-Google is getting better and better at discerning quality content and crap.
I really like the Google +1 so thanks for reminding me to do it for you 🙂
Matt, thank you for this info. I’ll check into that plugin. You are so right about checking the quality of purchased articles. I once fell for one of those “deals” that offered 100 free articles as a bonus. The articles were terrible!!! Some of them didn’t even make any sense. They clearly had been “spun” — and very poorly at that.
Thanks allot.
Greetings from Germany 🙂
thanks for the information. very helpful. I googled for you.
Another point to add. – No more link cloaking- triggers spam.
Google has started to frown on link cloaking.
They simply do not want you cloak your affiliate links anymore either. If they catch you, it will trigger SPAM filter and your site may be labeled as a SPAM site.
Be careful .
Thank you so much for this timely article, Matt. I am about to begin posting on my passion site, and will be sure to keep quality in mind as I progress.
Take care!
Cindi
Great article Matt! Giving Google what they want is exactly what we need to do for good organic search engine rankings. Quality content that adds value to our users is #1 and I would say adding Social Media would be #2 on my list.
John
Thanks for the article, Matt.
You say, “Logins – If you can have a way for people to login to your site, such as a forum, then this shows Google your site is important to people and is another indication of quality.”
How can Googlebot access the site? Are you hoping a human from Google will stumble across your site, enter, and grade it?
What about Page Rank?
Thanks, Matt. Much appreciated!
Matt, really good overview! It all comes back to true quality as most things in life. Short cuts are just that, short cuts. True quality and lasting value come from substance. Rankings in G not only provide a better experience for the user but translates into increased site value, equaling greater ongoing short term AND long term values when one decides to divest of the property. I’ll forgo 4 sales today to have 4 additional sale per day 6 months from now.
I have purchased all of your products and believe you are one of a handful of people truly trying to provide quality and true value. Looks like you are succeeding.
Thanks for the post, and for the link to the social link plugin. I’ve been looking for this type of plugin that didn’t put overly large or garish icons on the page.
Matt I have to laugh as you made a big point as to grammar, misspelled words, and the such that Google looks for in determining
the quality of your site, and in this article you have a few places where words are misspelled, or the grammar is not correct. I am not being critical here because the article itself is much too valuable in understanding how Google looks at things. I have to tell you that I have learned that sometimes the mind works faster than your fingers can type, and now because of stupid mistakes I have seen myself make which embarrasses me, I usually reread everything I write at least a second and third time.
Anyway as usual I do thank you for taking the time to inform us as to the things we need to be aware of pertaining to way Google looks at things. Paul
Quality content will always be #1 for Google. I think people sometimes get too caught up in the nitty gritty details of SEO instead of looking at the big picture. For example, they spend all their time on things like getting the “perfect” keyword density.
That’s all well and good except that these sorts of details CHANGE as Google continues to update and improve. 3% density might be great for a few months, but then all of a sudden 1% density is better.
When you focus too much on all the little details, it leads to frustration when something changes. The one thing that will NEVER change is the desire of Google to have good quality content that is useful to the people who are looking for it.
I agree with what you say about how to approach optimizing our sites, and I love the good info you give, Matt.
What I’m amazed at is how, when I use Google to search these days, the sites at the top of the heap are most often DRECK! I know they’ve got a lot more sites to index than a few years ago, but sheesh, I gotta dig down four or five pages to get useful results at least half the time!
It reminds me of when my dad used to say stuff like “Do as I say, not as I do.”
Matt,
Thank you for the concise list of Website Features. You always do a great job at “getting to the point” and making it easy for your readers.
@Anne – you go girl!
Thank you again for your work Matt – Theresa 🙂
Hey Matt
I always did worry about ghost writers and quality, but I would guess it’s less important on an affiliate site than a blog. I can see inviting guest posting but never ghost writing on my blog
Cheers
Mark
the logins- that’s news to me I don’t believe that has any bearing on SEO or what Google looks at.
I would love to know how you came to this conclusion and see your research?
Hi Matt
Thanks for the interesting read. Just one thing tho, you talk about spelling and grammar under the “Content” heading. Please reread this section again as it has several spelling and grammar mistakes!! Just thought I should let you know.
Cheers
Sarah
Hi Matt
Once more great information and thanks for sharing. The information you have supplied has helped me start getting commissions on 15 – 20 items a month and a trickle of adsense revenue, which for a complete novice like me is great.
Thanks again.
Jon
Matt
Thanks for an interesting post, I must take a look at Google+1
Matt, I really enjoy reading your posts as they’re always informative and helpful. Google is always changing their algorithm, and would I like to thank you for keeping on updating us about the lasted seo changes that Google implements. I going to get your SEO Experts Academy soon. Keep up the good work.
Hello Matt,
I enjoyed the article, but have two small comments:
1) You have a typo (which is ironic) but easily fixed (overboard, not overbaord).
2) The first part of any response that you make is covered by your profile pic (at least in my browser).
Hopefully these comments are helpful to you, and I look forward to reading more of your work down the line.
Having recently purchased the excellent SEO Experts Academy course (there’s a nice plug for you Matt!) I have started to optimize my pages less. I had been using the WP Easy SEO plugin for my wordpress sites but to be honest if you 100% optimize your pages then it just doesn’t look or sound natural on read back, with your main keyword in all the H1, H2 and H3 titles, underlined, in bold, italicised, ALT text in images, etc. I’m personally delighted that Google rewards quality rather than over optimization – it makes the whole content writing process much more enjoyable rather than robotic that over optimization requires. Also more useful, readable content is more likely to get you socially linked.
Many Thanks for the advice. As I just designed a new website I will make damn sure the content is A1 and will connect my social network accounts to a blog page within my site.
Off topic but how can I find football realted authority sources that I can create outbound links to?
Thanks gain for the post.
We have been following this very closely. I think there are other implications that I have not seen anybody mention.
The days of spinning articles are over or soon will be. Google will figure out by reverse engineering that an article is spun. I don’t think it is that hard to do. Actually, speaking as an engineer, I think it would be a fun project. But a walk in the park for their brain trust.
Hiring someone who cannot produce high quality (as opposed to somewhat acceptable) content to write your articles will be over. The better writers will (or should) charge a lot more. It might even create a domestic market for writers here in the US (UK or AUS) if the rate goes up enough.
Subscribing to a service that will give you 10,000 crappy blog links is probably not a great idea. It will work for awhile. But eventually, you will be tearing your hair out trying to find those links to remove them. Google will lower your overall score because of them. A lot of services will find their subscription revenues falling. They have to realize there is limited life to their “money machine”.
I think high quality private networks are the way to go if you can afford it. I would like to find a half a dozen people who want to form a group to create such a network.
So, banging out a site a day and creating little money machines is going to be hard. Not because its hard to create a site. The problem is that it will be very time consuming bringing that site up to the new standards and keeping it there. I manage about 30 large sites and it is killing me.
We are going to go back and refocus all our efforts in improving the quality and user experience on all our sites. In the long run it will filter out a lot of the less serious marketers and I will not have to compete with the all the spam and garbage that people have learned to produce.
Search quality will go up and that, after all, is the business Google is in.
Hi Matt
Your comments are always worth paying attention to as what you say is straight down the line. Quality is the key and if we are truly committed to what we do online, this should be our prime motivator anyway. Unfortunately, too many people look for the ‘quick’n’easy’ route to take and that gets everyone into trouble eventually. Why bother? It doesn’t take much more effort to write a really good and useful piece of content than a bad one!
Hi Matt
I’m lapping up everything that I can at the moment on things post ‘Panda’! I have to say this is the first time that I have seen the ‘login’ strategy talked about.
It’s got me thinking anyway so that’s always a good thing 🙂
Thanks
Lynne
Greetings brother Matt,
This is some really great info You are sharing here 🙂 really helpful. & Thnx for sharing the plugin link for Google +1, Twitter, & Facebook buttons all at once…
I’m really looking forward for more!!! Remain Blessed!!!
Peace,
Danny Rogers
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 8:03 am
Thanks Danny
Matt
Thanks for all the valuable content that you provide. Like so many other newbies I was on a mission to build sites as soon as possible to see the money flowing in, which never happened. I soon realize that to get anywhere my only option is to get back to basics and follow the Rapid Profit Formula program again but this time apply what you teach. I appreciate the SEO tips and information and will definitely apply it on my sites.
Thanks again
Hennie
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 8:02 am
Thanks Hennie
Matt
Morning Matt,
Enjoyed the webinar Q & A session the other day and the new update for Rapid Profit Formula. Appreciate all you do to keep us informed. keep up the good work. You get my #1 Goggle vote!
A whole handful of Blessings thrown your way,
Shaefercd
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 8:02 am
Thanks
Matt
I agree with most of what has been said. The idea of throwing up a static page with outdated content, overly agressive sales copy and giant font affiliate links is dead.
Matt can you do a post about plugins? I wonder what other plugins you use in addition to the social plugin you mentioned above.
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 8:02 am
Hi, perhaps I can do a post like this soon
Matt
Very helpful post explaining clearly and exactly what Google wants. I’ve just had a bad experience hiring a writer for the first time, (first time outsourcing). Using copyscape I found that the articles, six in total, or part of the articles were already published on a number of other websites. I’m very disappointed. I have to be very careful in the future.
Thanks again Matt,
Gerard
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 8:01 am
Thanks Gerard
Matt
Hi Matt,
I watch all your videos you sent to your list. I’m glad I found your blog and read many valuable SEO post here. I’m not ready into your SEO Expert Academy yet, since I’m still in the early stage of learning SEO.
For the SEO score, I install SEO Doctor to check my on-page optimization. It’s simple and works well for me.
Jason
Thanks Matt for the Great information and for sharing the information on your social plug-in.
I personally share your blog postings with my team. When you write about on-site I share the post with my on-site writer, when you share on off-site, I share with my seo people.
I value your commitment to help us succeed.
Kevin
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 8:01 am
Thanks Kevin
Matt
Hi Matt,
Could you share with us what type of content that is best to give to the visitors that looking for review of certain product.
For example my keyword “productA reviews”. Is it the best thing to write is only about what people say about the product (testimonial).
Or we could provide some general information like history of it or some general features of the product.
I have found many buyer keywords based on my example above and major of it is a pharmacy products. When people want to buy some pills online, what is it that they really looking for?
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 8:01 am
Hi
I would avoid some buyer keywords these days, because you are quite right if you have an article about a product but it is not what they want, Google may see this as not as relevant as it could be. In saying that I do still rank for lots of these, so perhaps the other quality factors is enough.
Here is an example of a good review that Google themselves says they like: http://www.edmunds.com/honda/accord/
Regards
Matt
Thank you for this information. I think you are spot on.
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 7:58 am
You’re welcome Wayne
Matt
Hello Matt, I am finding your blog to be very informative and appreciate all you have shared with me. I also love when you send me a video by email. They are also very useful videos filled with quality tips. I have just recently purchased your Rapid Profit Formula course and and loving it! Thanks for all you do!
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 7:58 am
Thanks Norman
Matt
Matt,
This information has great value and I thank you for the reminder. For that, I gave you a plus1 here.
Since this post relates to and proposes correct grammar and spelling, I was surprised to see so many errors. You might want to correct them before this post gets crawled. Want an example to see if I am right? The word is grammar, not grammer (third paragraph under the Content section near the top). Heck, even as I typed it in this comment box of yours, the built-in checker underlined the word grammer in red. There are a number of other mistakes, too, including sentence structure, combinations of words, etc. I hope for you that you correct them in time. I do love your topics in spite of the language issues. To not just point out issues, I’ll give help. The easiest way to get wording, grammar, and sentence structure right is to keep to short sentences. Rather than too many commas and too many ideas in one sentence, just make one sentence into two or three. My best wishes to you all.
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 7:58 am
Hi David
You will always find some spelling and grammar errors on my blog posts, I suck at attention to detail. You don’t have to worry about the odd one, because Google knows we are human, what I mean is blatant bad grammer, which indicates the article was either written by someone who can’t speak english well or a robot auto-spinning.
Regards
Matt
Hey, Matt! I follow all of your blog posts and watch all your free videos coaching series. I learn a lot of SEO and content from you and other ethical marketers ( like Andrew Hanson ). I liked Anne s testimonial and I m sure that good content and good linkbuilding are enough for succes. Thanks for valuable information, Matt!
Thanks, Matt, for all the info and also your sense of humor! We can all use a little lightness now and then to keep us from getting so stressed out about all the changes in internet marketing. I think we all appreciate all the help we can get in making the changes to our sites that will keep us up and running instead of trying to resurrect a google-buried site. I “liked”, “+ 1’d” and tweeted this post!
It is really making sense that Goog want “Quality”. When I searched a topic and found a garbage web content, I really disappointed and felt wasting my time. If Goog can not provide a good search results, they will dead…
Hi Matt,
Thanks again for an excellent post. It motivates me to go to all my sites and do something to improve their quality, even though I already think they are wonderful !!! Also thanks for sharing the social sharing plug-in that you use. I will also be adding that to my sites.
PS – Rapid Profit Formula = Geat Value!
Excellent article regarding seo score. SEO becomes more effective when we consider all kind of techniques. Only on-page and backlink building doesn’t improve more.
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 7:55 am
Thanks Gitesh
Matt
This is excellent SEO advise. Do you have thoughts on UAW? I heard UAW is feeling the panda sting too.
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 7:55 am
Hi, I prefer http://www.amarketingrobot.com myself, and I don’t know much about if UAW is having problems so can’t comment.
Regards
Matt
Thanks Matt. I have to agree with you and all of the prior comments — Quality is the key!
Matt, Once again you hit the nail on the head. I am currently taking your SEO Academy course and it has helped me realize a lot of things that I’ve been missing out on. Thanks again for not just this post but for all that you put into on this blog.
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 7:54 am
Great Darryl, glad to help
Matt
Hey Matt, Good advice because Google does try and reward white hat behavior. But, had to lauhg when I found intentially n the over optiminization para in a blog post that stressess gramar and speling.
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 7:52 am
Yeah, woops, and that wasn’t intentialy either, I must say I do suck at attention to small detail, so spelling and grammar and my worst enemy! Luckily I am good at other things..ha ha
Thanks Bob
Matt
Love it Matt! I joined your SEO Experts Academy about a month back and all I say is WOW! Super rich content my friend! We are still building our mini sites currently but are looking to start with our first authority site come the first of the year which is very exciting for us.
Thanks again, much appreciated!
Zac –
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 7:50 am
Thanks Zac
Regards
Matt
Good common sense points Matt, which I’ve come to expect from your blog. People, make it a habit of writing your OWN content if you are serious. Just write one good article each week and a little bit each day, you will have a killer site in a few years and always fresh content which Panda loves. My site’s traffic is growing nicely – all organic. Every page needs a very good description and title – use good keywords.
My best tips:
– Relevance of content. Give GREAT information freely – like Matt does.
– Fresh regular content – try to write every day for your site – even if you just write 30 minutes a day. GROW your content.
I’ve heard that Panda likes bamboo to eat – and super fresh and relevant content contains the freshest bamboo leaves.
– Drop the “hard” sell – Sales come over time – concentrate on traffic through SUPER content. Get people to like and trust you.
– Spell check folks!! – Spelling or grammatical errors make you look cheap & tacky – People loose confidence in you.
– NEVER plagiarise or “steal” content. Heard of Copyscape?
– It’s all about them – It’s NOT about you -”Whats in it for me”
– Social media – Learn syndication – Twitter & FB and Linkedin are the best
– Link everything together – GROW your web presence.
– Become THE #1 authority in your niche – It’s not that hard!
– Never forget SEO – but don’t get too anal 🙂
– Use Google Analytics – analyse your site’s traffic each fortnight. WHAT pages are people looking at on your site?
– Check out competitors regularly – Learn what to do and what NOT to do.
– Weekly or fortnightly newsletter – Keep in touch regularly.
– Sign ups – a newsletter – Email addresses are pure gold
– Use an auto-responder newsletter series – Saves lots of time. Use Aweber or Interspire or Mail Chimp. Automation makes for relaxation 🙂
– Patience, sites take a few years to mature – Like a good red. Your success is assured if you persist with continual excellence.
Thanks Matt, your blog posts are great.
Eric Bakker ND
http://www.naturopath.co.nz
Hello Matt,
A great post and very timely with all the noise going on about Panda, SEO and marketing in general. I am relatively new to the whole online business and joined your subscriber list about a month ago. I have to commend you on the way you conduct your business and your entire method of marketing. I have to say that I actually look forward to each and every email I receive from you and the invaluable information it contains. I can’t say the same for the majority of the lists I have subscribed to and they don’t last long before I unsubscribe.
Keep up the GREAT work!
All the best to you and your team,
Paul
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 7:50 am
Really appreciate that Paul
Thanks
Matt
Hi Matt, I click on +1 just as you hinted for me to do.
I agree quality content always wins out in the end, it’s the only way to keep the bounce rate down, and page views up.
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 7:49 am
Thanks Wolfgang!!
M. Good info as usual, I did buy your Academy course, interesting how you two have different opinions about things, back linking for instance. I believe you would rather have backlinks topic related, and your partner said he doesn’t believe the topic matters at all, just the page rank? Another thing, does the pr of the site matter more then the pr of the link page. As you know, most link pages have practically no ranking, just wondering. I missed the Q & A session unfortunately. I really recommend your course, I’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of things I didn’t know or even think about, money well spent. thanks, jw
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 7:49 am
Hi Jwing
I don’t worry about the topic of links either, not sure why you thought I did. The page itself I believe is more important with PR.
Regards
Matt
Hello Matt!
I DID just click your Google +1 because I think you publish some very good content on your blog that’s beneficial to know about: I really like some of your information and helpful tips and advice in your post above, and I think that this deserves a Google + 1 rating!
Regards from
Gary Wynder, (Oxfordshire, United Kingdom)
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 7:48 am
Awesome Gary, Thanks a lot
Matt
Hi Matt, thanks for a great post. I have 1 site that I didn’t really care much about anymore (recipes-for-diabetics.org), because I stopped selling a recipe software I had developed. It used to be a sales page actually more than a real blog or website.
4 Months back I decided to just put 4 or 5 of the recipes on the site for free and forgot about it. Until last week I noticed I suddenly had a PR1 (hooray…) and more than 2000 visitors a month on the site….
I being the owner am the first to admit the site is crap…. (pardon my french), so that makes me wonder a little about the smartness of Panda.
What do you think? Have a look at the site you’ll see what I’m talking about… Of course I’ll some work on it now, but it’s suddenly generating Adsense income…. weird don’t you think?
P.S I didn’t forget to Google + you… Cheers,
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 7:47 am
Hi Carl
There are a lot of factors that Panda looks for, and your site actually isn’t that bad to be honest. It is not overly spammed advestising, there are good recipy tips, it looks nice etc…so you are actually more lined up to Panda that you migh think.
Matt
Thanks for the head up. The information is very good. I will put it into action.
“When I did check this content, to my horror I found spelling mistake and poor grammer all over it…..”
Hmm, pot calling kettle 😉
Hey Matt, thanks for yet another informative post. You really do seem to answer many of my questions without me even having to ask them. I had been wondering how helpful blog comments were on a website, but you brought up a good point about that. The challenge there, though, is sorting through all the spam comments…argh!
Anyway, thanks for the useful advice.
Matt Carter Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 7:32 am
Your welcome Allan
Matt
Great info matt, ive also noticed in the last week, that alot of my sites backlinks are getting deindexed. I have a few sites that had over 1k backlinks and now they’ve got 400 to 500.
So it looks like google is really cleaning house!!
Thanks for the good & practical tips.