Gear up for Google Panda 3.3 update and many more

Search Marketers better pay heed. Google has rolled out Panda 3.3 update to its search algorithm, along with 39 additional search updates. 

According to a post on Google’s official blogspot page, introduction of Panda 3.3 update will ‘refresh data in the Panda system, making it more accurate and more sensitive to recent changes on the web’.

Panda algorithm, ever since it first came about, has been force to reckon with. And with every update to this algorithm, the search engine has been able to shore up its efforts towards creating a more accurate and authentic search environment. This update, like the previous one, is directed at data refresh and not so much at creating new or changing ranking signals. Nevertheless, with every tweak in Panda algorithm, search and thereby search marketing will only get smarter and wiser. 

Of the 39 other search related updates, some significant changes that one ought to lookout for are:

1. Improved local results and improvements to rankings in local search results: Google has launched a new system to find results from a user’s city more reliably. This will help detect, more accurately, queries and documents that are local to a user. With respect to rankings in local search, an improvement in the triggering of ‘Local Universal’ results has been introduced by relying more on the ranking on Google’s main search results as a signal.

2. Improvements to freshness: ‘Freshness’ has been an important subject matter for Google for a long time. To be able to surface results that are ‘fresh’ and thereby more relevant to the time has been an aspiration for the search engine and with respect to the same, it has applied new signals which will help surface fresher content in the results more quickly than before.

3. Link evaluation: Google has decided to do away with its link evaluation/analysis signal. Google has for long relied on characteristics of a link to help figure out the topic of a linked page. But having turned off a method of link analysis that was being used for several years, one can expect Google to come up with (or in Google’s terms -‘re-architect’) an upgraded link evaluation tool or something which will carry out the function with more scrutinized eye in the near future. 

An inference which can be best drawn from these suggested tweaks and upgrades is that Google is going all out in its efforts to spruce up the local and accurate-ize the more generic way of search. For SEOs, these upgrades are only but a call to tighten their reins of search marketing initiatives and make them more concentrated, if anything. 

Optimize for local search for better business results

Local search is one of the most promising areas when it comes to search engine marketing. Particularly if you have a locally based business, the prospect of optimizing for local search may just be the difference between the success and failure of our business altogether.
Consider the following facts. Local search has grown manifold over the last few years and it is expected that more than 30 per cent for all searches, by 2015, will be regarding locally-based businesses. Moreover, more than 80 per cent of all searches conducted via an internet-enabled device like a smartphone or a tablet PC is for a local business. Worldwide, the number of smartphone users is increasing day by day and this increase is largely facilitated by the fact that access to internet (, and thereby search) is relatively hassle-free with a mobile communication device like a smartphone. These trends, if anything, are an indication of the fact that people are taking to local search more enthusiastically than ever before. Leading internet marketing firm Webmarketing123 reviews this trend as one which will stick around and possibly revolutionize search activity all together.
So what is it about Local search that should appeal to locally-based businesses and persuade them to proactively work towards establishing and maintaining a favourable search presence for local/geo location based queries. It is that local search presence makes a business look ‘pursuable’. Explaining this better, consider you are a florist located in the city of Denver, looking to improve footfalls and sales of your business. Now, if your business comes up on the top spots for a local query ‘florists in Denver’, your business automatically becomes the one to opt for or ‘pursue’. This sentiment goes a long way in encouraging a person to opt for and try your business over others.
To build a strong local search portfolio all you need is a little bit of SEO and consolidation of your business’s web information. SEO calls on incorporating relevant keywords in your website’s content, including long-tail, geo-specific and even language-specific ones, so that a website ranks favourably for such queries. Also, include and promote videos and images about your business so that people can perceive it better. Next step is to make sure all the information about a business across various web-based platforms (local directories, forums and review sites) are consistent with one another. This is so that you do not end up confusing a searcher when he looks a business up. Lastly, be proactive in your efforts. If you stumble upon any negative information about your business take the initiative to correct it. People trust opinions and experiences of others and so it is important that every review about your business (on Yelp or any other similar site) is taken into account and worked upon.

Importance Of Content For Search Engine Optimization

In the process of search engine optimization, content plays a very important role. Let us understand why content is important for SEO. Well, let us first answer what web provides us. The web provides us with information, which is content. Every page on the web is a document of information or content on numerous topics. Search engines crawl and index web pages to find the one which provides the most unique and relevant information. The pages which cater unique content are ranked higher on the search engine result page. Therefore, the quality of the content on your website contributes to your ranking on the SERP.

There are several types of content such as text, audio, video, images and a few other formats. Considering the technological advances, the types of content keep changing. The important point is to create content in a format that best serves the users and fulfills their expectations. If you are providing instructions on how to use a product, you can reach your audience in a PDF format. Music videos can be delivered in a video format. Search Engine Result Pages display all types of content. This includes links to other web pages, videos, blog posts, PDF files, images, news results, online shopping and many more types.

Content is produced and delivered for the following reasons: introducing new concepts and communicating with customers to build a strong bond with them. So, if you own an apparel brand, the content that your deliver should describe your products briefly. This will help increase your brand visibility and improve your ranking on a SERP.

The best part about producing content is that it is completely within your control. You are the master of what you deliver. You know your product and target audience. Hence, when you create your content, ensure that you are delivering what your audience expects. You can produce content in the form of blogs or information on other web pages, publish white papers or offer e-books for download. For promoting your product, you can even launch contests wherein you can award your product to the winner. No matter in which format are you delivering your content, it is highly influential for your website’s ranking. 

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