Google Panda DOs and Panda DON’Ts

If you’re like many bloggers and content creators, you’ve struggled since the“Panda” update trickled throughout Google’s search algorithm. For several years Keywords were the gold standard of the land, and not throwing in a few for the SEO spiders was basically throwing your post to the wind.

Now, though, things have changed, and an uncertain future awaits us all…

Ok, maybe it’s not that dire. In fact, Panda is a good thing for professional bloggers and marketers in the long run, although it might look a little shaky right now. But it does take some getting used to, especially if you’re not able to get away from the keyword-heavy text from years past.

To help you out, here are some DOs and DON’Ts to pay attention to.

Panda DOs and Panda DON’Ts

Panda DOs

First and foremost, keywords are NOT the devil. There’s no reason to ignore them completely. While Panda does focus on other things now, keywords are still important — in a way. You just no longer have to worry about stashing and stuffing them throughout your content.

For example, if you are writing a blog post about your new candy cane maker, you wouldn’t intentionally leave the words “candy cane maker” out of the post. It’s the focus of the piece, and it would seem weird to exclude it. Before Panda, though, you would have had to work in as many instances of those words as you possibly could rather than consider context and quality.

And context is the key word here (ha-ha). Because that’s what Google is primarily concerned with now with the Panda updates. While tossing keywords everywhere won’t do the trick, making sure the entire piece makes sense in the context of “candy cane maker” will. This eliminates any spammy blogs getting in the average Google user’s way as they look for the information they need.

Everything you write from here on out has to be as interesting as possible (like it wasn’t before). DO focus on the narrative you’re creating and make everything from the headline to the very last line of the blog post (or other content) as amazing as you can make it. This is what those mysterious spiders look for now.

Panda DON’Ts

I’ve pretty much covered keywords, but there’s one last note about them. The common practice before was to make sure any exterior links were attached to relevant keywords so that you got an extra SEO “boost.” Oftentimes, though, this led to some awkward link usage in your blog or press release body, which probably came off as awkward.

For instance, let’s say you really wanted to boost up your “big fan of candy cane treats” hits on Google as you saw it was fairly popular. The trouble then becomes how to fit this phrase into a sentence that doesn’t sound weird. Suddenly your blog is filled with stuff like “If you’re like me and are a big fan of candy cane treats” and “Any big fan of candy cane treats will likely know another big fan of candy cane treats.” If someone regularly reads your blog they know what you’re up to and it might put them off.

Now, though, you can phrase things however you want.  With less emphasis on keywords, your role as a writer becomes that much simpler. Just concentrate on making the best piece of writing you can muster and the Panda will handle the rest. If it’s interesting enough to the public, your job is done.

Do you find you’re still reliant on keywords in your writing?

This post was contributed by Mickie Kennedy is the CEO of eReleases Press Release Distribution in Baltimore, MD.