Mastering Google - Penguin, Reverse Engineered

[Nathan]

This is an interesting video, learned quite a bit on Google Penguin and Panda Updates

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[fakesky]

I heard the 30%, 30%, 30% & 10% theory somewhere already, and it seems to be a good way to build backlinks.

He said that these updates are not about the links, but it doesn't seem credible to me though, well, who knows..

The main point that he touched in this video is that over optimization is a bad thing, looking natural is the way, well, it's all about your common sense in my opinion.

Thanks for sharing.

[SpikeTheLobster]

As a content writer (though only for myself these days), I have to say that I find all the analysis interesting... and amusing. Ever since I first encountered SEO, I've thought of it as something for other people - all the mathematical analysis, statistical analysis, keyword densities and other stuff was just too math-geeky for my liking.

 

Why is that funny? Because even though people did all that analysis and it made a really big difference (before I was doing serious content writing), since Panda and Penguin, none of it really matters. They're still doing all the analysis and talking about the same measurements and numbers of this, that and the other thing... but high-quality content written by actual writers who have a decent control of their language totally bitch-slaps the stuff that's been SEO'd up the wazoo.

 

I can so easily imagine all the Google engineers sitting there with big grins on their faces because - with just two updates - they've pretty much decimated the BS SEO market (note: not the people who are good at it) and put quality content and quality search results back into the hands of the smart people. That is, the folks who realise that useful, high-quality content is better for a good web site. And that SEO requires skill because it needs to be done without ruining that content.

 

I know it's mean in a way - especially because the vast majority of SEO companies are based in poorer countries (and it sucks that their business has just been effectively fire-bombed by the updates) - but as a writer, I can't help but feel satisfied that the second-rate garbage-spewing cheap-ass writing and SEO markets will take a huge hit. Site owners will get proper content. Writers will get paid properly. Good SEO people will be paid properly. The world's a better place.

Edited May 30, 2012 by SpikeTheLobster

[tetutato]

Hmm thanks for the video. Needs to do some more SEO on my site. Dropping from page 1 to page 2 on all my keywords

[JHTech100]

I need to redo my SEO too. I think I might be over-SEOed a smidge. That video is helpful, and I'll have to take the information into account.

[bryce12]

It's back to drawing board for some of my sites. Even though I haven't used any paid or spam link building, some of my sites have been hit hard by the Penguin update. I guess that's how life is under Google, you either play by their rules or disappear altogether.

[Marc]

People must just spend all their life workin this kinda stuff out. Where does someone get all this time! LOL

[Ram8349]

As a content writer (though only for myself these days), I have to say that I find all the analysis interesting... and amusing. Ever since I first encountered SEO, I've thought of it as something for other people - all the mathematical analysis, statistical analysis, keyword densities and other stuff was just too math-geeky for my liking.

 

Why is that funny? Because even though people did all that analysis and it made a really big difference (before I was doing serious content writing), since Panda and Penguin, none of it really matters. They're still doing all the analysis and talking about the same measurements and numbers of this, that and the other thing... but high-quality content written by actual writers who have a decent control of their language totally bitch-slaps the stuff that's been SEO'd up the wazoo.

 

I can so easily imagine all the Google engineers sitting there with big grins on their faces because - with just two updates - they've pretty much decimated the BS SEO market (note: not the people who are good at it) and put quality content and quality search results back into the hands of the smart people. That is, the folks who realise that useful, high-quality content is better for a good web site. And that SEO requires skill because it needs to be done without ruining that content.

 

I know it's mean in a way - especially because the vast majority of SEO companies are based in poorer countries (and it sucks that their business has just been effectively fire-bombed by the updates) - but as a writer, I can't help but feel satisfied that the second-rate garbage-spewing cheap-ass writing and SEO markets will take a huge hit. Site owners will get proper content. Writers will get paid properly. Good SEO people will be paid properly. The world's a better place.

 

How can Google bots tell the difference between good informative article but lack of writing skill, and good writing skill but providing wrong or less informative content?

Not everyone has awesome writing skills, and not everyone has awesome knowledges on the content they write.

I'd rather take an article with good information but so so writing skill over an article with awesome writing skills but not so good information

[Victor Leigh]

How can Google bots tell the difference between good informative article but lack of writing skill, and good writing skill but providing wrong or less informative content?

Not everyone has awesome writing skills, and not everyone has awesome knowledges on the content they write.

I'd rather take an article with good information but so so writing skill over an article with awesome writing skills but not so good information

 

Good question there.

 

Personally I don't think any bot can do that. If that is possible, then it's equally possible for a content-generating software to produce articles which can rival that done by a good human writer. We know for a fact that this is impossible. Seriously, I think even if we put a million monkeys on a million typewriters and give them a million years, we will still get nothing close to what Shakespeare has written.

 

As for the second part of your post, I beg to differ.

 

A good writer can make just a bit of information very entertaining reading. This is a very important aspect that is often overlooked by content buyers. If it's true that all the visitor to the site wants is just some information, then they can just look it up in some database like, say, the Wikipedia.

 

So why should the visitor visit your site to get the same thing? Therein lies the answer to the difference between quality content and just plain vanilla content. That will also answer the question why some site owners are prepared to pay 20usd for a 500-word article about something which many people may say can be bought for just 1usd.

[SpikeTheLobster]

How can Google bots tell the difference between good informative article but lack of writing skill, and good writing skill but providing wrong or less informative content?

Not everyone has awesome writing skills, and not everyone has awesome knowledges on the content they write.

I'd rather take an article with good information but so so writing skill over an article with awesome writing skills but not so good information

 

Quite apart from Victor's answer (which I agree with as usual), I don't think content is an either/or proposition. No, not everyone is an awesome writer. Not everyone knows their subject. So I'd put content on a sliding scale - in much the way Google tries to - something like this (example, not definitive, carefully considered, etc.):

 

Awesome writing, great info

Great writing, great info

So-so writing, great info or Great writing, so-so info

Pretty bad writing, so-so info or So-so writing (or better), crap info

Awful writing, crap info

 

Google's ranking algorithms are not designed to say "Yes or No" to content: they're designed to rank content, so the best written, most informative, most useful content comes top and everything else gets put in order afterwards. The info still comes out as most important but the writing adds to the attractiveness and relevance... and, more importantly, to the ease of understanding.

 

This is why the majority of site owners don't see the importance of good writing: they forget that SERP ranking is NOT "#1 or GTFO" - it's a ranking system where page 1 is important and hard to achieve for a reason. Once they realise that, they begin to understand why more expensive content (assuming it's higher quality) is better for their site.

 

Thankfully, bad writing with great info can still make the top of the SERPs... it just won't do it as often as good writing with the same info will. That's just a harsh reality of modern SERP ranking with Panda and Penguin.