Google Panda, Penguin, Peter Pan… All I can say is, I TOLD YOU SO!

March 21, 2013 •
Google-Panda

I received an email this morning:

“Hi Glenn,

before i buy, is your seo copywriting book updated re panda?

The table of contents looks fab and I am sure its useful but am wondering, is this book updated, given all the changes about organic content since Panda?

Thanks”

Now I’ve been pretty quiet on the subject of Panda. And Penguin. And pretty much every Google algo update. Every time they release one, I think, “update schmupdate!”

But I can’t hold my tongue any longer. All I can say is, “I told you so!”

What are Panda & Penguin?

Panda and Penguin are simply updates that have helped Google get better at filtering quality pages from crap pages. Sites that use keyword stuffing, link schemes, cloaking and other dodgy tactics will be penalized. Sites that don’t, won’t be. And sites that deliver an all-round good user experience, with great quality content, will do well, whereas sites with merely ‘good’ content, or outright bad content, will do poorly.

Now for the fun part…

At the risk of sounding like your parents, I’ve been saying for years that it’s crazy for us to spend so much time trying to be too clever (or worse, yet, trying to game Google). Why not spend that time creating high quality content instead? Here are some of my rants:

The short answer to this morning’s email question is this: No, my ebooks haven’t been updated to accommodate all the recent algo changes, like Panda and Penguin. But only because they don’t need to be updated. They preach pure white-hat SEO based on high quality content and genuine social engagement. Panda and Penguin haven’t changed that at all!

So there!

Feel free to comment...
comment avatar
Kate Toon wrote on March 20th, 2013

Oh you big smuggo! But true. Quality was always the best idea, and beats fiddling and cheating anyday.

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comment avatar
Glenn (Owner) wrote on March 20th, 2013

Haha! "smuggo". Well, I've certainly been called worse... ;-)

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Anna Butler wrote on March 20th, 2013

I'm with you 100% on this one, Glenn. Write ORIGINAL, QUALITY, ENGAGING copy and the rest kind of falls into place. In fact, many of algorithm changes Google have made recently seem to be putting the emphasis back on to good copy over pure SEO tactics. Which isn't to say there is no place for SEO, but if your primary focus is SEO and the copy is secondary, you're not doing yourself (or your audience (aka potential paying customers)) any favours.

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comment avatar
Glenn (Owner) wrote on March 21st, 2013

Yep. Agree 100%.

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