When you hear other webmasters talk about Google’s algorithm change, the first image that probably comes into your mind is an adorable and cuddly creature.

However, there is nothing adorable about it. In fact, the Web’s leading search engine has never been more stringent. And, over the months, it has released a series of data refreshes.

As such, many website owners have looked upon the Panda updates with scepticism and fear. Additionally, they have bombarded Google with questions, such as the following:

• How will these help our websites?
• How will these affect search engine optimisation (SEO)?
• How will these work for Internet users?

The Function of Google Panda Update

In response to the common questions (stated above), the regular algorithm changes intend to provide the users with highly relevant and compelling search results. Additionally, these hope to keep the strategies of many webmasters in check, especially those who have not been complying with search engine guidelines.

Generally, Panda emphasises these three vital aspects.

• Credibility
• Trustworthiness
• Quality

It is because of these goals and attributes that several websites have plummeted to the bottom SERPs.

Has there been an effect on your site too? If you have been penalised like the other owners, here are some ways to help you recover.

Get Your Website Back on the First Page

1. Come up with great content

How do you this? Accordingly, the main idea is to consider your target audience and not just SEO. And, while you may have heard that the secret is to focus on unique and educational insights, these are actually not enough.

So, instead of just concentrating on well-written and informative content, remember the following pointers:

• Make it compelling and engaging too
• Keep it a bit humorous and witty with anecdotes
• Add videos or photos for visual appeal
• Ask yourself if it is worth viewing repeatedly and sharing on your social pages

2. Remove some posts 

Which webpages should you take out? Get rid of those that have not been contributing to your SEO goals.

But how exactly do you know whether some pages are actually helpful? Sign in to your Google Analytics account and access In-Page Reports, which lets you study and comprehend how most visitors are using your website at page level.

After you have gathered the data you needed, you can come up with methods on improving your site. You can either remove outdated and useless pages or simply add certain elements to make them more interesting, relevant, and timely.

3. Avoid grammatical errors

As linguists like to point out, there is no such thing as “wrong grammar”, only “ungrammatical use of words”.

But whatever the case, no matter how strategically stuffed with keywords your article is, if it is not readable and grammatically correct, your readers will likely look for other materials and leave your website.

So to keep your readership base, make sure your articles have the 3 C’s: clear, coherent, concise.

4. Write naturally

As you consider proper grammar, you must not forget to keep the flow of your words natural, especially when integrating keywords.

Even if you rank in the first page for some targeted keywords, directing several users to your site, you will have a high bounce rate if these individuals find your content insubstantial and of poor quality.

5. Prevent duplication 

How do you end up with duplicate content? This usually consists of the following circumstances:

• You reproduce the work of other webmasters
• They copy from you
• You revive pages from your archive and post them as they are (without adding new information)

You can solve such issues by applying these respective strategies.

• Follow the first tip: come up with great content
• Use canonicalization
• Provide fresh insights with images or videos to previous content

  

6. Use Google services

Since you want to recover from the Panda’s impact, there is no better way to get your site back to the top SERPs than to take advantage of great tools. These two are among the most valuable.

• Webmaster Tools – If your website is not for commercial purposes, you can use it to check the indexing status and boost the visibility of your site.

• Google Analytics – If you are a marketer or an online entrepreneur, you can obtain in-depth visitor statistics through it.

The general function of both services is their ability to provide you with usage metrics, which help greatly in enhancing your website’s performance.

7. Boost your site’s page load speed

While Google does not consider it a big aspect in indexing and ranking, it still helps in improving your spot in search results. This applies mostly when many users visit your website regularly, spend longer time on the landing page, and browse through various webpages.

If you apply the following ideas:

• compress images and files
• minimise banner adverts
• avoid Flash graphics, and
• lessen the integration of too much plugins and unnecessary software,

You can enhance your website’s click-through and, eventually, increase your ranking.

With these recovery tips, you can ease your way up the first page. Hence, you must always take note of them while optimising your site.

At the same time, do not forget that Google occasionally releases Panda updates. Therefore, you have to be on the lookout for a drop in your ranking. Plus, you need to read SEO news. Who knows, you might just learn new optimisation strategies. 

About the Author:

Emma Tomlinson is the Head of Retail at Smart Traffic, a fast-growing private SEO company Bristol offering  services to several companies across the globe.