Google Pushing Out Panda Update 3.9 Tonight

Google says it will roll out the latest update to its Panda algorithm later tonight.

The company posted the news a few minutes ago on Twitter, saying this update will affect about one percent of search results.

New data refresh of Panda starts rolling out tonight. ~1% of search results change enough to notice. More context: goo.gl/huekf

— A Googler (@google) July 24, 2012

By our count, this is Panda Update 3.9. The previous update, 3.8, occurred just about a month ago — on June 25th.

Panda rolled out initially in February 2011 and was designed to remove low-quality/thin content from Google’s search results.

For more background on the Panda algorithm, see our Panda Update News archive.

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Search Engine Facts newsletter 17 July 2012

If your web pages are difficult to understand, you might not make as much money as you could with your website. A simple tool can help you to check the readability of your pages.
In the news: Google's Marissa Mayer becomes Yahoo's new CEO, Blekko releases a social news site, and Google might be preparing a Google marketplace to compete with Amazon.

Table of contents:

• Facts of the week
• Search engine news and articles of the week
• Recommended resources
• Previous articles

We hope that you enjoy this newsletter and that it helps you to get more out of your website. Please pass this newsletter on to your friends.

1.       Cephalalgiawhat? How to get more sales without it.

2.      If your web pages are difficult to understand, you might not make as much money as you could with your website. A simple tool can help you to check the readability of your pages.

3.     

4.      Difficult language = fewer sales

5.      Many websites use technical language that is very difficult to understand for the average web surfer. Some webmasters also like long and complicated sentences.

6.      Long and complicated sentences are not a sign of professionalism. They just show that the author of the sentences doesn't care about the readers.

7.      The more complicated the text on your web pages, the more likely it is that a visitor will leave your website.

8.      How to check the readability of your web pages

9.      The Flesch Reading Ease test is a United States governmental standard to determine how easy a text is to read. It measures the approximate level of education necessary to understand the web page content.

10.  Higher scores indicate that the text is easier to read, and lower numbers mark harder-to-read texts.

A high Reading Easy Score means that a text is easy to understand. The Grade Level shows the number of years of education that are required to understand the text.

How to improve the readability of your pages

There are several things that you can to do improve the readability of your web pages:

·         Write short sentences.

·         Use many paragraphs.

·         Use headings to structure the content.

·         Use bullet lists.

·         Avoid complicated words. Don't say "cephalalgia" when you can also say "headache".

·         Use images on your pages.

Make it easy to understand your web pages, make it easy to navigate them and make it easy to buy on your website.

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Avoid 5 Things in Content Marketing

Inbound marketing tactics, like content marketing, have proven to be effective ways to attract and engage target audience members. Online marketing strategists constantly sing the praises of content marketing and businesses are finally starting to listen. However, bad content marketing is even worse than no content marketing. If you are going to spend time creating and sharing content, it’s important to avoid the following mistakes:

Spelling/Grammar

If you have a good idea and the words are flowing quickly, that’s great, but that’s also often when spelling and grammar errors pop up. It’s amazing that some content marketers don’t follow the rules that they should have learned in elementary school. Always go back and proof your work! Even better- proof it and then ask someone else to do the same. A second pair of eyes may pick up on something that you are missing.

Creating Too Much or Too Little

Content marketing online is a tactic that never really ends. It should be ongoing, but you need to determine what the right amount of content is. You don’t want to pump out too much content because it is a drain on resources, will affect the quality of the content, and target audience members don’t have time to read it all anyway. On the other hand, not having enough content means that you won’t get noticed. Find the right pace that works for your business and suits the needs of your target audience.

Posting the Same Content Everywhere

Gone are the days of posting the same article on numerous article directory sites. The focus is now on original content since article directory sites took a major hit after the Google Panda update. Instead of posting the same article everywhere, re-write it and take a different approach and only post it to a handful of places where you know your target audience is. Posting content to the same site over and over means that you aren’t capturing a new audience. Spend time looking for new opportunities.

Not Optimizing

Content published anywhere on the web can be crawled and indexed by the search engine spiders so it’s important to think about SEO when creating it. Target specific keywords in the heading/title and throughout the body content naturally. Do some keyword research using a keyword research tool or by analyzing Google suggested searches to find out how people are searching and what kind of information they are searching for.

Make it Known Who Created It

The whole point of content marketing is to get noticed by target audience members and get them to eventually visit your website and take some kind of action. Don’t forget to write a strong “About the Author” byline that includes links back to your website.  

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