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So, what steps to take in order to save your biz after the drastic change in Google algorithm that kicked in Feb., 2011? These changes have affected different sites differently – some have jumped to the top, others – plummeted to the bottom of the Web sea. If you are one of those SEOs whose resource has been hit hard, the last thing you should be doing right now is complaining or resenting.

Instead, take a close look at the changes as they have affected your competition. Take notes and prepare an action plan. One thing I see across niches is that Web 1 domains got a great boost from this change and Web 2 (e.g. Ezinearticles.com) have been slapped hard. But it is only a general tendency and there are exceptions. These exceptions deserve a very close look.

Let me give you a deeper insight into the whole thing. But first, the general tendency should not be taken lightly. If you do not have your own domain but instead, relied on Web 2 properties, then it is now time to diversify into Web 1. Ok.

On-Site Variables

Why have many Ezine Articles lost top rankings? The new changes, also referred to as “Panda update”, have particularly targeted shallow content sites. This update uses more sophisticated on-site factors that allow it to sort good “intense” quality content from superficial, off-hand posts. You can easily guess what indicators I am talking about.

Take a look at About.com posts – this Web 2 has gained in rankings after the change. Such factors as the length of the post, use of paragraphs and lists, images, etc. are all weighing in now. How many times has the post been re-tweeted and “liked” on Facebook are of paramount importance today. Are there any comments, trackbacks, etc.? What sites are linked to in the post and how are anchors used? Just take a close look and you will see what “new good” content has that “new bad” content doesn’t. It is not rocket science at all!

After applying this “Panda thing” to each and every post on, say, Ezinearticles.com, the Google algo then took a notice of how many “bad” articles are hosted on this domain (they have also probably used a list of topics or “bad” keywords that helped them quickly determine that the site is a “spam dump”). As you might guess, it turned out too many and the whole domain got slapped!

So, if you post a press release from now on, you should make sure you create a “good” post pushing the right buttons and hosting it on the right Web 2. Got it? Keep an eye on my next posts. I will show in more detail how to choose the Web 2 domains that are still in Google’s good graces.

Off-Site Variables

Now, let’s talk about the off-site factors – the backlinks. It is not the quantity but the quality that matters. I have seen sites ranking on top from just one single anchor. The point is this. If you drop a link on Ezinearticles.com now, you won’t get much “juice” from it because, as I said above, the whole domain was slapped by “Panda”. The same will apply to any blog site which produces lots of “bad” posts. Its weight has been devalued and you won’t get far by placing a link there. And the bad news is that Page Rank is not a good indicator of the “quality” of the site.

The best advice here is to take a close look at your competition. If they were unscathed by the recent changes, take a look at their backlinks. What sites are they coming from? In what particular form (a blog post, a directory listing, etc.)? How do they use the anchor text? What else are they doing that might be giving them an advantage (e.g. periodic updates, blog posts, etc.). As a general rule, your backlinks must be well diversified so build a list of the strategies your most successful competing sites are using and start implementing them.

In a nutshell, plan carefully WHERE you will be dropping your link and HOW you will be dropping it. Test different strategies at the keyword level to see what works best.

PS: I have been mainly focusing on the tactics for those pages that lost rankings due to the end-February update. If your site was demoted around this time then the advice in this post will apply. If, on the other hand, something happened before this update, then there may be other reasons that you should look into (e.g. manual penalty, etc.)

Happy SEO-ing!

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