The Panda update rolled out by Google has affected a lot of people and displaced a lot of websites from their former rankings. Some web owners have walked away scratching their heads and wondering where they went wrong. Perhaps one of the most important lessons which people should learn after the update is the fact that it is of utmost importance today to maintain sites with the highest quality possible. The following years should be more interesting to everyone as most sites are struggling and doing their best to invest in quality.
Shortcuts might cut you some time and effort but doing so will run the risk of losing your ranking. Hard work, on the other hand, will continue to pay off and yield results for the long term. Although there are some signals in the algorithm which can be gained, it is vital to always keep quality a priority.
It is not a secret that SEO will continue to have a very big effect on what we see online and how people create and run their websites. SEO will also bring various types of disciplines together in order to please the users and give them exactly what they are looking for.
The Site and the Visitor
How a site looks and feels to a customer affects its rankings. If the site is difficult to navigate or is very confusing, you can bet your bottom dollar that the user will not return to it, nor will he or she recommend it to other users. The architecture of the site, its content, and even its design are all important to its SEO.
It is important to figure out what users want and what users need because that is where Google is headed. More focus and emphasis must be given to users and not the algorithms. After all, it is the people who will purchase your products and services, not the robots.
Metrics Which Mean Higher Rankings
SEO experts have spoken and the verdict is out. There are metrics which translate to higher rankings and if you want to rank high on Google, you should pay attention to these metrics.
URL’s traffic yield
People need keywords in order to find what they are looking for on the internet. Most people who own websites obsess too much about keywords because it is the keywords which bring money but you should also pay attention to the quality of your website because it is quality which will attract people to your site and keep them there.
Ranking reports are losing their meaning. Today, what matters is not the ranking but the total traffic yield of the URL. Ranking reports may not be going away but more and more people are becoming educated and are looking more towards quality.
Beyond links
Some time ago, the more links point toward your website, the higher your rankings are going to be. Today, it is no longer just about links. Today it is no longer just the sheer number of links which are taken into consideration but also the domain authority, unique domains and total domain links.
Power of URLs
URLs must be preserved because the older the URL, the better it will score. It is also important to remember that redirects will hamper SEO efforts and this includes any and all kinds of redirects. Using 301 is still highly recommended.