Marketing Bites

Prepare Your Site for the Upcoming Google Penguin Update

April 2013 marked one year since the “birth” of the Google Penguin, which is the code name for an aggressive filtering system that Google installed to lower the search rankings of sites that violate Google's quality guidelines. Google will be launching another big update in the near future, so be ready!

Google offers a checklist for conducting a site audit to ensure that you are in line with acceptable practices. We recommend taking a few minutes to read through these guidelines. Also, be sure to visit our full article, Prepare Your Site for the Upcoming Google Penguin Update, to learn more on what may upset the Penguin. In a nutshell, Google wants you to create a site aimed at people (not search engines), and to avoid the futile game of trying to “trick” search engines to boost your rankings. Don’t try to outsmart Google: you will likely get caught and be penalized.

Here are some steps you can take to see how Google views your site:

  1. Log into your Google Webmaster Tools account to see if Google has blatant concerns with your site. You will see a notice identifying the issues, if any.

  1. In Webmaster Tools, check on your site map if you have submitted one. Click its link within the dashboard to see if Google is reporting any errors related to it, and address them accordingly.

  1. Click HTML Improvements (under the "Optimization" header on the left side of the screen) to see what Google suggests to improve the content and performance of your site.

Play by Google’s rules and develop great, original content. Google will reward your efforts!

If you are not sure what Google Webmaster Tools is or whether you have an account, just ask us.

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Marketing Bites are short actionable tips to help you market your business. Each Bite contains a marketing idea and an easy to complete action. The Marketing Bite is emailed weekly to subscribers.

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