Google Penguin Update: New Techniques To

Boost Your SEO

Matthew O’Such – Chief SEO Strategist

PCG Digital Marketing

Today’s Agenda

• Market Research on Penguin Formula• What should marketers do OR not do after

Penguin?– Tips to Success with Penguin in play

• Linking• Content Creation & Syndication• Increase Social Interaction & Multi-Media Use

• What will happen next?

The Penguin Tipping Point

• Market Research on “Bad” linking– How not to fall off into dangerous

waters…Page 1

Page 2 – 3 – 4 or worse

“…every single site we looked at which got negatively hit by the Penguin Update had a ‘money keyword’ as its anchor text for over 60% of its incoming links.”*

*Source:http://www.micrositemasters.com/blog/penguin-analysis-seo-isnt-dead-but-you-need-to-act-smarter-and-5-easy-ways-to-do-so/

When Will The Penguin Strike?

Watching Metrics

• Get access to your Analytics & Webmaster Tools– Rolling updates from Penguin - Watch out for this…

– Recovery Time is usually 3 to 4 weeks– Reconsideration Requests: http://bit.ly/sRDmul http

://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35843

How Smart is “Penguin”?

The Unknown Factors

• Google has yet to comment on if the new formula will effect keywords like your “Company Name” linking too often

• They say they have taken this into account in the new formula

• We’ll be on the look out for further updates and let you know

Link Analysis of Anchor Text• PCG’s staff has created an internal report to analyze a website’s Anchor Text - Based

on link density, we can generate a report like this:

31%

25%5%

4%

3%

3%

2%2%2%

24%

Anchor Text Distribution – XYZdealership.com

Springfield Toyota Dealers

Visit Dealer Website

2011 Toyota Tundra

(img alt) (img) [No Anchor Text]

XYZ dealership

Scion Dealers Springfield

(img alt) 2011 Toyota Camry

(img alt) 2011 Toyota High-lander

2011 Toyota RAV4

Other

Tips to Success - Linking

• Footer Links – If you have microsites and blogs,

eliminate/update footer links that appear on all pages and that point back to your dealership website(s).

– If the anchor text of the link is a keyword goal and not your business name, delete it.  If you want to have a link with your business name on all pages, make it a “no follow” link.

– You do not need hundreds of links anchored on your own dealership name - you probably already rank #1 for your dealership.

Tips to Success - Linking

• Sidebar Links– If you are using a blog, check if you

have utilized the sidebar links feature.  – This will place a list of popular links on

all pages, in the sidebar column widget.  • Again, if these links are designed to provide

useful navigation to customers, make them “no follow”.  • If they were designed to reinforce primary

keywords, I would remove them.

Tips to Success - Linking

• Excessive Home Page Links– Some websites have hidden or scrollable text

regions on the home page which have dozens of links to internal and external website pages.

– This is very important if you have multiple websites or microsites for your dealership. When you look at this content area it is clear that it was created for SEO purposes.

– We suggest that the content be edited to remove to high frequency of hyperlinks and make the text more natural.

Tips to Success - Content

• Invest in Original Content – The last few updates from Google have

generally focused on quality and of course I have been an advocate or hiring in-house writers and social media advocates for years.

– With Google calling the shots for 67% of the search market, maybe it is time to invest in an internal Digital Warrior. • Since video is so effective, video production skills

should be part of the job description. Having someone who can write, create videos and engage in social media is well worth the investment!

Google’s example of Poor Content & Links

Matt Cutts

Head of the

webspam team at Google

Tips to Success - Content

• Review Your Content Strategy– Review your blog posts and syndicated content to make

sure that the linking strategies used in the content are natural. • It is natural to mention a 2012 Honda Civic is a blog post and

you link the words to your list of 2012 Honda Civic cars in stock.

– Linking to specific VDP pages is also natural because the car is unique!• It is natural to link your service page, parts page, and used car

pages. • Penguin forces greater attention on “how” those links are

created. If you are talking about the benefits of BMW CPO cars in a blog post, you can link the words “BMW CPO Cars” to your CPO website page but don’t get crazy and create three links in the content on text like “BMW Used Cars Cincinnati“.

Tips to Success - Content

• Syndicate Your Content– Dealers should be syndicating their content.

There are many ways that dealers can establish themselves as local experts by syndicating blog content, Infographics, PDF resources and videos.

– Networks that allow content syndication with “natural” linking can amplify the benefits of your in-house or outsourced content writers.

– Video is a favored asset for syndication and the results that I have seen with dealers we coach on syndicated Video SEO is just amazing.

Tips to Success - Social

• Invest in Twitter, Facebook & Pinterest– You may think that getting clicks, likes,

retweets and re-posts from social media sites provide little value but the rules of organic visibility HAVE CHANGED.

– The line between Automotive SEO and Social Media Marketing are crossing. When you combine social media strategy with RETARGETING, the results can be profitable.

Tips to Success - Social

• Accelerate your Google+ Strategy– Content, Videos, and Photos can be shared

on Google+ that reside on your dealership website and blogs.

– The links created by Google+ are valuable and the social signals created by these posts are important.

– Google’s way to stop link abuse is to favor the influence of peer votes through social media websites. Go with the flow and get your Google+ strategy in place.

Tips to Success

• Don’t Get Discouraged– If your website was penalized by

Penguin, fix the problems and Google will see those changes over time.

– If you have done a full audit and your internal and external linking investments are now natural, rankings will come back.

Tips to Success

• Is Keyword Linking Dead?– No. – Content with links that are natural can still include

keyword targeted links– BUT, don’t abuse the strategy and as long as the

page the link points to supports that keyword goal. – For example, if you are a Toyota dealer in

Louisville, your content can include a link on the words “Toyota Dealer in Louisville” if the words are natural in the context of the article.

– You will also want to diversify the keywords that are linked; do not use the same anchor text in all your blog posts.

Keep on doing successful SEO techniques

Researching your Keywords

Updating your website meta information

Creating Content

Build Off-Site Media & Links

• The most important first-step to a good SEO campaign, Keyword Research

• Many tools can be used, we start with Google AdWords Keyword Tool– You can compare a

competitor’s keywords using• SpyFU.com

Researching Your Keywords

• Meta Tagging is the hidden text on a web page that helps search engines identify the content

• Try to write Meta Tags from the point of view of “What will make a person click on this link”

Updating your website meta information

Apply your Research

• Homepage should contain the most important keywords

• Google Webmaster Guidelines state:– Titles and Descriptions of all pages

should be unique to the content of the page

– Have the keywords in the title, description and in the content of the page.

• Take your priority keywords and write updated content, blogs & press releases–Models– Geotargets– Local Community events– National Sales events & specials

• These tactics will help you rank for local and regional keyword, brand & geotarget terms

Creating Content

What will happen next?Zebra Update?

Meet the PCG Team – Exhibiting & Speaking

•

Google Penguin Update: New Techniques To

Boost Your SEO

Matthew O’Such – Chief SEO Strategist

PCG Digital Marketingmatt@pcgmailer.com

Be added to future webinar lists – email Steve Murphy –

steve.murphy@pcgmailer.com