technical seo cleanup for google’s panda algorithm
TRANSCRIPT
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
Technical SEO Cleanup for Google’s Panda Algorithm
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
• Panda isn’t just about your content – it’s about your site architecture.
• Cruft pages caused by technical issues will harm your Panda profile even if users never find them.
• What do I mean by cruft pages?• What causes them?• How are they hurting your SEO?• How do you get rid of them?
OVERVIEW
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
WHEN I JOINED GLASSDOOR…
Source: SearchMetrics
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
QUALITY
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
QUALITY
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
QUALITY
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
HOW DO QUALITY SITES GET INTO PANDA PROBLEMS?
Source: SearchMetrics
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
March 5th, 2015
Technical SEO Cleanup for Panda
Ehren Reilly
Director of Product, Growth Glassdoor
@ehrenreilly
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
Now hiring SEOs & Product Managersjobs.glassdoor.com
• Sr. Product Manager, SEO/Growth• Sr. SEO Manager, B2B
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
CLICK TO ADD TEXT
PRESENTATION TITLE HERE
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
March 3, 2015
HOW TO COPE WITH DIRECT ANSWERS AS A PUBLISHER
Ehren Reilly
Director of Product, Growth Glassdoor
@ehrenreilly
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
Annoying, isn’t it?Makes my presentation seem kind of low quality.
Imagine if you were Googlebot crawling my presentation.
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
CRUFT PAGE PROLIFERATIONPAGES INDEXED % USEFUL
Time
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
• “No Results” pages• Different query; same results set• URL-based duplication• Faceted Nnavigation• Meta tag implementation issues
TECHNICAL ISSUES THAT GENERATE CRUFT
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
“NO RESULTS” PAGES
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
“NO RESULTS” PAGES
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
“NO RESULTS” PAGES
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
“NO RESULTS” PAGES
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
“NO RESULTS” PAGES ARE EASY TO FIND THROUGH A GOOGLE SEARCH
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
Benefits of noindex,followStill get credit for links to these pages.Users can still access these pages via navigation.Google won’t send users to these pages.
Why not Canonical?Sometimes you can’t figure out in real time which is the most relevant other page.
NOINDEX “NO RESULTS” PAGES
<meta name="robots" content="noindex,follow”>
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
DOES “NOINDEX” WORK FOR “NO RESULTS” PAGES?
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
DIFFERENT QUERY; SAME RESULTS
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
DIFFERENT QUERY; SAME RESULTS
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
DIFFERENT QUERY; SAME RESULTS
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
• Normalize language (e.g., make all your category/search pages plural)
• Merge & redirect pages with the same results set• Canonicalize pages that are subtly different
DIFFERENT QUERY; SAME RESULTS? NORMALIZE, MERGE, CANONICALIZE!
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
• Extra query parameters that don’t affect the content (e.g., session IDs)
• Case-insensitive URL paths & query parameters• http://www.Example.com/stuff.htm = http://www.example.com/stuff.htm
• http://WWW.example.com/stuff.htm = http://www.example.com/stuff.htm
• http://www.example.com/Stuff.htm ≠ http://www.example.com/stuff.htm
• http://www.example.com?content=Stuff ≠ http://www.example.com?content=stuff
• Multiple subdomains returning the same content• http://www.example.com ≠ http://example.com
URL-BASED DUPLICATION
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
• Canonical URL tags• Parameter handing tool in Webmaster Tools• Set preferred domain in Webmaster Tools• Set up your CMS correctly
SOLUTIONS FOR URL-BASED DUPLICATION
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
FACETED NAVIGATION
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
• Re-use or syndicate same content without canonical tag
• Canonical URL tags use relative paths on a site with many subdomains
<link rel="canonical" href="/Stuff.htm" />
• Repeat same content on international alternate site without alternate/hreflang tag.
• Pagination without rel prev/next
META TAG IMPLEMENTATION ERRORS
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
• Google Webmaster Tools:• Duplicate page content• Duplicate page title• Indexed pages: Have you got a lot more pages indexed without adding more
content?
• Traffic and & log file analysis:• Are users/bots going to pages on your site that “don’t exist”?• Are there pages of your site that bots visit, but which users never visit?
• Human discovery
FIGURING OUT THAT YOU HAVE A PROBLEM
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
Panda Score = Σ(value of content)# unique pages
Ways to improve Panda Score:• Increase content quality without
adding new unique pages.• Decrease # of unique pages by
eliminating cruft.
PANDA FORMULA
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
CRUFT PAGES MAKE IT HARD TO FIND THE GOOD STUFF
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
GIVE USERS/BOTS ONLY THE GOOD STUFF
Flickr: superdupermanda / Via Creative Commons
searchmarketingexpo.com@ehrenreilly
#SMX #32a
Now hiring SEOs & Product Managersjobs.glassdoor.com
• Sr. Product Manager, SEO/Growth• Sr. SEO Manager, B2B