Social media platforms represent dynamic environments in the world of web content tips which more than 56% of all living, breathing individuals connect socially.
In this context, it goes without saying that giant, extremely popular social networking websites are a fertile ground for clever web content strategies, developed and implemented by most companies to grow their online presence, maximize their ROI, enhance conversion rates and increase brand awareness.
Studies indicate that 1.2 billion people have a Facebook account and spend approximately 700 billion minutes on this platform on a monthly basis, exposing themselves to countless marketing messages. Would you like to boost the popularity of your online business on Facebook?
Follow these simple web content tips to gather tons of likes from an increased number of visitors.
#1 Distribute various types of insightful web content to prevent boredom
Posting 2 or 3 photos on a daily basis with a flat comment won’t draw more visitors to your Facebook page. In this case, diversity is the key to success. Distribute various types of web content to discover exactly what makes your targeted audience tick. Count on:
1) Funny, entertaining videos: Do you know what has gone viral these days in your line of work? Don’t be afraid to post videos which are not directly related to your brand, but still manage to entertain, inform and educate your segment of potential buyers. For instance, viral videos about fun, adrenaline-filled activities will always be a gold mine for a well-known, popular energy drink.
2) Inspirational blog posts: Do you want to create buzz around an event, a new product or a recently launched service? Write an engaging blog post and promote it on Facebook.
3) Press releases: Are you getting ready to launch a new product? Are you eager to announce a few recent updates and/or major improvements? Share the exciting news with your friends by posting informative, well-written press releases.
4) Photos: Try to find great pictures which are relevant to your business. Here’s an extra tip: post snapshots of your employees and clients photographed while testing your products. Your motivated staff members and satisfied customers are the best brand evangelists one could ever hope for!
#2 Less is sometimes more on Facebook
Recent studies indicate the fact that most people choose to unfriend their acquaintances simply because they are constantly bombarded with tons of useless information, game invitations and other forms of dull web content. One post a day would be more than enough, though many brands choose to break this rule and end up spamming their followers. A wrong posting strategy is correlated with a low engagement rate, so try to stay active and relevant at the same time without annoying your virtual friends with countless Facebook posts on a daily basis.
#3 In the end, it’s not about you
Social media content strategies are very tricky: the end goal is to bring your brand under the spotlight and persuade your audience into doing something, but without actually leaving the impression that the whole (digital) world revolves around your company and your line of products. Remember the fact that all your followers are self-centered and consider their needs a top priority. Give them tips, useful pieces of advice, recommendations, helpful information, how-to articles, valuable tutorials and they’ll land on your Facebook page regularly, constantly asking for more. Don’t forget to end your posts with a (pertinent) question addressed to your fans to encourage their feedback.
It’s always virtually impossible to reach your destination when you don’t know which way to go. If you’re looking for amazing web content and a suitable social media marketing strategy tailored to your objectives, requirements and expectations count on professional content writing services and start turning dreams into accomplishments today.
Today, the single most important aspect of your web content is your headline.
As people cruise through online content at warp-speed, it’s the content with outstanding headlines that are more likely to get recognized.
Subsequently, it’s the content creators who know how to develop quality headlines that are likely to reap the highest number of likes, shares, and engagement.
While readers want compelling web content writing, the average visitors’ attention span is short, and people are highly unlikely to click on a headline that doesn’t grab their attention, even if the content behind it is high-quality.
With that in mind, learning to craft exciting, unique, informative headlines is by far one of the most critical things a content creator can do for their business. Content relies on headlines, and this guide is designed to help you learn to create outstanding ones.
Why Do Headlines in Web Content Writing Matter?
While it’s easy to dismiss the importance of headlines, they’re more critical to content than most people understand.
Because of this, it’s incredibly important for the headline to be attention-grabbing and unique. This is especially true when you take into account the fact that the average human attention span is around eight seconds, one full second shorter than that of a goldfish.
With these two things in mind, it’s clear that bold, unique, attention-grabbing headlines are more important today than they’ve ever been before. A quality headline can increase click-throughs and boost engagement, while a dull or dry headline can easily harm your content, encouraging readers to move on to a better, brighter topic instead of staying and engaging with yours.
Five Examples of Good (& Bad) Headlines in Web Content
To create compelling headlines, it helps to have an example of what a compelling headline looks like. Here are a few we’ve rounded up:
The Good: 5 Awesome, Stellar Web Headlines
Here are five examples of functional, exciting headlines that get the job done.
“How to “Waste Money” to Improve the Quality of Your Life”
This headline, which features on the blog of Tim Ferriss, does all of the things you expect a great headline to do: it’s unique, attention-grabbing, and different.
While wasting money is often seen as a bad thing, this headline turns that on its, well, head, and makes the reader think twice by claiming it can actually improve the quality of your life.
Are you going to click? I would. 😛
“7 Life-Changing Beauty Products You’ll Wish You Knew About Sooner”
Are these beauty products good? Are they great? No. They’re life-changing! This BuzzFeed headline makes a big promise and offers value and actionability to the reader, all in one sleek package. Maybe that’s why it has more than 46,000 views.
“15 Genius Ways Your Phone Can Help You Sleep Better”
This is another BuzzFeed headline that gets the job done. The word “genius” promises readers that these aren’t run-of-the-mill tips, and the article as a whole addresses a common problem: poor sleep.
“The Amazing Reason that Medals at the Paralympics Make a Sound When you Shake Them”
This is an Upworthy article that does a few things right. In addition to giving readers some new information that grabs their attention (did you know that Paralympics medals made a sound?) this article also promises a bit of information that the reader is unlikely to get anywhere else.
“How to Have a Healthier and More Productive Home Office”
This IncomeDiary piece promises actionable solutions, which makes people want to read. It also promises benefits that virtually everyone wants: better health and increased productivity.
The Bad: 5 Icky, No-Good Headlines
While the good headlines are good, the bad ones are really, really bad. Here are five examples of headlines that missed the mark:
“How to Write (With Pictures)”
The fact that it has pictures doesn’t make this WikiHow article any more compelling. In addition to the fact that its headline is way too vague, it also doesn’t offer the reader any real value, which makes them want to keep looking for something more distinct and unique.
“Has Obama Been a Good President?”
Whether he has or not, this Odyssey article headline doesn’t do much to inspire the reader. With so many interesting headlines out there, this one falls short of the mark.
“5 Strategic Ways to Beat the Competition”
Wait – to beat what competition? Where? How? This NaijaPreneur headline is way too confusing, and way, way too vague.
“How to Win Summer”
Come on FoodNetwork? How to Win Summer? Details, please! This article just doesn’t provide enough specificity to make readers want to click.
“22 Ways to be Beautiful”
While being beautiful is great (presumably), this Self article headline lacks specificity and doesn’t make up for it at any point throughout. While I might click if it added “Without Makeup” or “In the Morning,” I’m not interested in the generalities.
The ROI of a Great Headline: It Impacts All Your Web Writing
While a great headline takes some time to write (some experts claim you should spend 90% of your writing time on the headline alone), they’re well worth the effort.
Here’s why: when a headline is catchy and expertly-crafted, it draws people both in the immediate short-term and in the much longer term for months and years after its initial publish date. In this way, good headlines are the gifts that keep on giving
5 Proven Web Content Headline Creation Tips
Creating great headlines for even better web content writing results can be tough.
These five tips can help:
1. Be as concise as possible in your headlines
In addition to the fact that headlines longer than about 160 characters get cut off in Google’s SERPs, long headlines lose your reader’s attention at a quick rate. With this in mind, keep your headlines short and concise, and pack them with the relevant information your reader needs to click.
2. Be informative in your headlines
Remember those bad headlines we pointed out? Many of them went wrong by simply not being informative enough.
While it’s not necessarily that they were about boring topics, they simply didn’t provide the information a reader needed to be enticed to click, and thus they fell short.
With this in mind, be informative in your headlines. Instead of writing a headline like “22 Ways to be Beautiful,” shoot to include the what, where, and when: “22 Ways to Look Gorgeous (Even After Your Sweatiest Workout)”.
In addition to the fact that this headline targets an audience (people who don’t exercise likely won’t click), it also provides some truly actionable info the audience feels they can rely on.
3. Use a headline tool to gauge your success
Wondering if your headline will cut it or not? One of the best ways to tell is to use a headline tool like Advanced Marketing Institute’s headline analyzer, or CoSchedule’s headline analyzer.
Each tool is designed to help you understand the emotional impact and balance of your headline (between common and uncommon, emotive and powerful words, and more), so you can create better ones every single time.
For an example of how these tools work, check out what happened when we plugged “22 Ways to be Beautiful” into the CoSchedule analyzer:
4. Add adjectives to your headlines
When used correctly, powerful adjectives can overhaul your headlines. Take “15 Genius Ways Your Phone Can Help You Sleep Better,” for example. Would “15 Ways Your Phone can Help You Sleep Better” have been more compelling? The answer is no, and the reason is simple. “Genius” quantifies the content as high-quality and helps grab readers.
5. Use call-to-action language in your headlines
While many people believe that a call to action and a headline are two separate things, the fact of the matter is that adding call-to-action language to your web content headlines can go a long way toward making them more unique and compelling.
Consider a headline like “Try These 10 Simple Cooking Hacks in Your Kitchen.” When compared to something like “10 Simple Cooking Hacks for Your Kitchen,” it’s easy to see how the first is more compelling.
Content Writing That Transforms Websites
While the headline is a commonly overlooked piece of your content, it’s one of the most critical components of high-ROI material, and web content that transforms–your readers and your revenue.
In addition to drawing in readers and helping drive conversions, a great headline can also help inform and educate your readers, which goes a long way toward turning them into life-long converts for your content.
So regardless of whether you’re writing “how-tos” or “how-comes”, a great headline is the one thing that truly has the potential to transform your content from start to finish. Focus on fantastic headlines in creating your web content, and when it’s time to find a content writer for your website, look for that key skill set to succeed.
Need content writing services for your website? Contact Express Writers today and hire some of the best copywriters in the industry for your web content!
The jungle of web content… Photo credit joerothenberg.com/bgs-and-concept-art/
Over the course of the last few years, the biggest search engine of them all has confirmed this assertion by releasing Pandas and Penguins (and possibly a few other creatures that remain hidden), whose intention seems to be to steal the food from the mouths of online marketers.
Why Is Website Content Such a Jungle?
To a certain degree, one can understand the efforts of search engines – and even sympathize with them. Search engine results are supposed to look organic, right? So, why is it that one can still find that the first page of search results on popular search-engines is littered with the same search phrases – all found on different sites?
The answer is quite simple: The same content is being used by every other online marketer. The results are so repetitive that the average person searching the Internet cannot always see the individual trees within the jungle.
If, however, they were to look at the search engine results again, with a slightly more discerning eye, they would notice that occasionally the results on the top half of the first page are actually unique and very helpful in relation to the topic searched. For that, we often have content writing services to thank.
At this very moment in time, marketing with the aid of original, outsourced web content is reaping handsome rewards for those individuals and companies that have abandoned the concept of recycling stale content – a practice that would have rendered their rank on the popular search engine significantly low. Instead of blindly thrashing around in the undergrowth, these entities have simply taken a rest-stop, planned their transition, and formed a partnership with a website content writer. That alliance is leading them safely past the snares and away from the lairs. Reasonable estimates have shown that a mid-sized company migrating from a typical system utilizing outdated, spun information to a system based on current, unique, outsourced content may yield twice as many leads at half the cost. In fact, these results, impressive though they may seem, are not actually uncommon.
So how does one begin when it comes to creating good website content?
The answer to that is relatively simple: consultation with a reputable website content writing service.
If SEO writing is what you seek to improve your Website’s visibility, do not be afraid to venture into the world of writing and engage in a search for the web content writing services out there. Article and blog writing have fast become a career, which is a great support for other businesses that want to boost their sales through unique content, which is optimized to make them known by many.
As a site owner, it will be your responsibility to determine the ultimate destination. You may choose a sleek, snappy three-page site or a content-rich, authoritative site with many areas to explore and many secrets to divulge to those who choose to seek, poke, prod, and dig. Either way, discussing these different scenarios and desired results with your writing service provider will enable them to provide content that should fit perfectly into your plan of action.
These days, web writing is a thriving industry because we depend on the internet for everything. Somebody has to write all those web pages, all of that content, and the billions and billions of words that make up the information highway.
That said, what sets your words apart from the rest? Why should people bother to read your online writing when they literally have millions of other options at their fingertips?
The answer lies in the fundamentals of online writing. When you have these keys down, you will be able to create online content that stands out, gets noticed, and impacts your readers positively.
It matters because online writing is a different beast from every other type of writing. You may borrow some techniques from other areas, like the fundamentals of creative writing, but, ultimately, this medium needs to speak to not just any type of consumer, but the online one.
[bctt tweet=”Create online content that stands out, gets noticed, and impacts your readers positively. Learn the fundamentals of #onlinewriting” username=”ExpWriters”]
Why the Online Reader Needs Tailored Writing
Here’s what we know about the online reader:
They’re bouncing around from webpage to webpage. According to data from Chartbeat, 55% of people spend 15 seconds or less reading a webpage. If your writing doesn’t intrigue your audience from the first few sentences, they won’t stay to read more.
More often than not, they don’t read web writing closely. Research from Dejan Marketing found that only 1 in 5 people will read your content word-for-word. The rest skim and scan pages, looking for the major points. They do this for various reasons, but the top two include impatience to find the answers they need, and avoidance of text that looks too long.
Online readers are often searching for answers to their questions and solutions to their problems. The research above proves this is true: 55% said the main reason they don’t read full content is they’re looking for quick answers, not a long read.
These types of reading behaviors are fundamentally different from the habits of people who read physical books, for example. If your nose is in-between book pages, you don’t mind blocks of text, and you probably read every single word in front of you. Meanwhile, online readers take in content and information in a different way, so we have to tailor our online writing to make it as easy as possible for them to digest.
[bctt tweet=”Online readers take in content and information in a different way. Here are the reasons why they need tailored #onlinewriting” username=”ExpWriters”]
As long as you have the fundamentals down, it’s not hard to fit your words to the web. For writing in general, think of it as another tool in your toolbox – a way to grow your skillset and flex your writing muscles.
Ready to learn the 5 fundamentals of online writing? Let’s go.
The 5 Fundamentals of Writing Online
Get to the Point (Use the Inverted Pyramid Style)
A.A.F. – Always Avoid Fluff
(Spell) Check Yourself
Format for Scanners, Write for Readers
Create Content That Matters (Map to Stages of Buyer Awareness)
The Fundamentals of Writing Online: 5 Keys to Engage and Impact Online Readers
1. Get to the Point (Use the Inverted Pyramid Style)
If we’ve learned anything thus far, it’s that most online readers want answers now. They want the cliff notes so they can skim or speed-read straight to the information that concerns them most.
While some people DO still read content in full, they aren’t the majority. That said, we don’t want to alienate anyone from reading our online content.
To appeal to the impatient skimmers, the in-depth readers, and everyone in-between, we can rely on the inverted pyramid style of writing. Amy Schade for the Nielsen Norman Group has another name for this technique: writing for comprehension.
This means you begin your blog or article with the most important information right off the bat. There is no teasing, no dangling the carrot, and certainly no beating around the bush. This is a KEY fundamental of online writing.
As your article continues, you order your points from “need to know” to “nice to know”. The least important information wraps up the end of the piece.
Look at this example of a blog from the Nielsen Norman Group. It begins with the main points and tells you exactly what you’re in for with a mini summary. The points that immediately follow tell you important details (what a customer journey map is and why you might need one):
The final points go into further detail – it’s stuff you don’t NEED to know to understand journey maps, but is NICE to know if you want more information.
This writing technique originated with early journalists. The idea was to give readers the most important details of a story, first, so they could understand the main point without having to read further (unless they wanted more details). If your main point was unclear in your piece, this was called “burying the lede” – a major no-no.
However, giving away the most important information at the beginning doesn’t mean you’re scot-free to do whatever you want after that. The rest of your blog or article should still contain good supporting information.
That leads us to our next point.
2. A.A.F. – Always Avoid Fluff
Using the inverted pyramid style of writing does NOT mean you front-load your blog or article with all the juicy bits, then slack off for the rest of the piece with filler.
That’s why the second fundamental of online writing is A.A.F. (Always Avoid Fluff).
What is fluff/filler? In writing, this is the use of repetitive wording, unnecessary details, meaningless phrases, or other diversions from the main topic that serve only to pad your word count.
Here are a few examples of filler phrases in action:
Concerning the matter of the test, she passed with flying colors.
At this point in time, that’s not an option.
Sally doesn’t want to study because of the fact that she has a headache.
These phrases don’t add any information to their sentences – you can remove them completely without losing meaning:
She passed the test with flying colors.
That’s not an option.
Sally doesn’t want to study because she has a headache.
Another version of fluff is restating points you have already made by changing up the wording.
Example:
She passed the test with flying colors. She didn’t even have to try to pass the test.
Both of these sentences get across the exact same information. The second sentence uses repetitive wording to restate what we’ve already revealed (we get it, she passed the test). The second sentence is total fluff.
As you can see, fluff weighs down your writing. It makes it slow, boring, and redundant. Online readers have no patience for this kind of crap!
[bctt tweet=”Always remember: A.A.F. — Always Avoid Fluff. Read more about why and how to get rid of fluff, plus the other fundamentals of #onlinewriting” username=”ExpWriters”]
Hot tip: If you fear you’re unintentionally stuffing your sentences and paragraphs full of fluff, use an editing tool that can help weed it out. (Hemingway Editor is particularly good at this!) To learn what words are common fluff targets, check out this infographic and get familiar with fluffy words and phrases you can cut from your writing without losing meaning or impact.
3. (Spell) Check Yourself
Any good online writer worth their salt should have an arsenal of editing tools at their disposal. Often, a round or two of edits is all it takes to transform sub-par writing into a zinger of a piece.
For web writing, in particular, editing is a crucial step you must not skip. The editing phase helps you accomplish major writing goals:
Trimming fluff and filler!
Correcting grammar and spelling mistakes so your writing is as clear as possible.
Optimizing your formatting and the structure of your piece.
Making sure your most important points are at the top.
Fact-checking and reviewing sources for accuracy and authority.
As you can tell, you’ll need more than a simple spell-checker to accomplish these (though it doesn’t hurt to start there). In fact, it’s a good idea to rely on more than one editor, including:
Your own eyes, preferably after you’ve stepped away from the piece for awhile
Automated grammar checkers (think plug-ins for your word processor/WordPress – tools like Grammarly or ProWritingAid)
A human editor (other than you)
Editing is not only a key fundamental for online writing; it’s also essential for ANY kind of writing, period.
[bctt tweet=”Editing is not only a key fundamental for #onlinewriting; it’s also essential for ANY kind of writing, period.” username=”ExpWriters”]
4. Format for Scanners, Write for Readers
Another major online writing fundamental to nail is formatting. Without the right formatting, your blog, article, or webpage will be hard to read and, perhaps more importantly, hard to scan. Online readers WILL bail on a piece with poor formatting, even if it’s written well.
When you format, think of ways you can break up the text and add meaning to your paragraphs. I’m talking about headers, lists, and bullet-points.
Headers, in particular, help outline the text and provide clues about the information inside it.
For example, maybe I want to know how to read my dog’s body language so I can understand her better. More specifically, I want to know what it means when she wags just the tip of her tail. I find an article that looks promising. I skim the headings to locate the information I need:
In this way, headings are ultra-useful for those online readers who skim and scan. Without the headings, it’s much harder to understand what information an article or web page contains at a glance. A few more tips:
Include headers where they make sense, and use them to “outline” your writing. Do the same with bullet points and numbered lists.
Don’t forget to format headers in a different color, size, or weight (like bold) to make them stand out from the text body. This way, those scanners who are only reading your headings can easily see them. They’ll immediately understand what your page is about without reading the entire thing.
Use shorter paragraphs to avoid the dreaded “wall of text” (because nobody likes a screen-induced tension headache).
5. Create Content That Matters (Map to Stages of Buyer Awareness)
One final fundamental of online writing is to create content that is actually useful. That doesn’t just mean high-quality information and good writing – it also means writing on topics your audience can rely on during their buying journeys and online search adventures.
It means answering their questions and meeting their search needs.
It may seem like a tall order to fill, but it’s not that hard. All you need is a firm understanding of your audience niches/personas, and knowledge of the main stages of the buyer’s journey.
[bctt tweet=”One final fundamental of #onlinewriting is to create content that is actually useful. How? The marketing lifecycle chart will help you.” username=”ExpWriters”]
The content you create that’s targeted to specific buyer awareness stages will be far more useful and effective than random content. It will directly fulfill user search needs, speak to their problems and questions, and provide nurturing solutions right when they need it.
Content to create when the buyer is in the Awareness stage (when they become aware of your brand and may need the solution you offer):
Value-focused, comprehensive, high-quality SEO blogs
Case studies or round-ups
Original research
Ebooks and lead magnets
Creative blogs and stories that build brand awareness
Informative guides and web pages
Content that builds community
Interest & Intent stage (the buyer is interested in your brand and could potentially buy):
Whitepapers, case studies, and client testimonials
Lead magnets that focus on your core brand message
A website that’s easy to navigate with clear CTAs
Conversational marketing, including live chat, phone calls, and messenger bots
Webinars
Decision stage (the buyer is ready to follow through and buy):
More conversational marketing (live chats and follow-ups)
A responsive sales team
Work or product samples
Client testimonials
Loyalty stage (the buyer is delighted and ready to sing your praises):
Brand updates (new services, new products, etc.) on your blog or social media
Follow-up conversations
Email marketing newsletters
Authority content published consistently
You Need the Fundamentals of Online Writing to Engage, Inform, and Impact Your Readers
Online writing is unlike every other type of writing out there. If you attempt to approach writing for the web the same way you would write for a college class, a piece of fiction, a technical manual, etc., you’ll be in trouble.
Hone your writing skills and remember, to write successful online content, you need to know how to accommodate the average web user. To earn the online reader’s trust, to engage them and impact their lives, follow these 5 fundamentals of online writing and make it happen.
It’s big, scary, and it’s HERE: Google Penguin 2.0.
Officially launched on May 22 and termed the “Webspam” update, this Google algorithm beast is dedicated to targeting anything considered “blackhat” in terms of SEO, and is supposed to dig deeper than its predecessor in the know-how of what website content to rank (and what not to rank).
“Digging deeper:” this means Penguin is getting into the nitty-gritty of how your backlinks work, where they are from, your indexing patterns and more.
Biggest Change in the Algorithm for Ranking Website Content is…
How Google figures out PageRank. Here’s what Google wants to use for its search factors to rank you or not rank you in its Penguin 2.0: gauging you on a social engagement level. Consider it a gauge of how your visitors enjoy (or don’t enjoy) your site. This includes the amount of times your site gets bookmarked; the amount of times it gets socially shared; and the amount of times it’s re-visited. The best part? Google Penguin 2.0 knows when you BUY engagement…and when it’s natural.
However, take it with a grain (or two) of salt. In months ahead, the algorithm is set to constantly update. If Penguin 1.0 affected the web, think of Penguin 2.0 as the destroyer or influencer of the web.
“As long as you’re working hard for your users, we’re working hard to show your high quality content to users as well,” said Matt Cutts, in his video on the matter published this May. “If you’re doing high quality content with SEO, you won’t have to worry. If you’ve been hanging out on the blackhat forums, it will be a more eventful summer for you.”
Important updates that will be a core of the Google Penguin 2.0 include:
The Biggest One: No more spammy links. PageRank influencing factors are totally different. Advertising will not influence PageRank anymore (or at least most of it won’t). Link spamming will be heavily knocked down in the update. Sophisticated link analysis is in its “early days” in the Penguin 2.0 update, according to Cutts. This is huge for many sites. What does this mean? The new Penguin will be hitting down on:
Comment spam (paying for low quality blog comments)
Low quality guest blogging
Article marketing/duplicating
Links from sites that are dangerous to users
Paid backlinks using exact match anchor text (in English: a paid backlink!)
If you relied on backlinks, you are more than likely going to be drowning by the end of Penguin 2.0 smackdown. Case studies available at: SearchEngineWatch.com. How to Recover:Experienced a drop in rankings from the new Penguin 2.0 beast, and need to get rid of spammy links pointing back to your site? Google’s Link Disavow Tool is for you. It’s a machete if you need to get rid of bad links—with Google, it’s mostly all or nothing with very little success allotted to cliffhangers. Time to cut off all those bad links? Learn more about the Link Disavow Tool. Go directly to the Link Disavow Tool. How To Avoid:To avoid your website content getting hit on PageRank influencing factors, if you are advertising to achieve PageRank, Google says they’ll hit you less if you actually tell your users that. Learn more about how to disclose your paid advertising so you don’t get Google-hit from WebProNews.
Want to avoid getting stuck in this mess altogether? Organically raise your PageRank. This means blogging; social engagement; and overall being a lot more engaged to try to get your website visitors active. Articles posted regularly on your website, social engagement every time you blog—that sort of thing is what Google is looking for in ranking factors.
Here’s 7 MORE IMPORTANT updates to the algorithm, both the good and the bad:
1. Pornographic links won’t give you much juice. Google doesn’t want to get in too much detail, but they will certainly be knocking down on anything spammy, including pornographic links. If you have any adult related content backlinks, they could push you down after Google Penguin 2.0 combs your links. 2. Hackers get revealed. “Hack” sites will be detected with a “next-generation” hack site update (this will roll out in June). Webmaster tools from Google will report the hacker more extensively to help with cleanup. 3. Niche authorities get better ranking. If you’re a site with authority in your niche, you’ll rank in that niche, according to Google. 4. No more cliffhanging. Sites in the border of being good or bad will be clearly defined in the update. No more hanging on the shelf for you. Doing quality content? No worries. Blackhat? You might want to worry. 5. No more clustering and getting multiple pages from your domain on one page of results. A bunch of content from one domain will be spread out over more pages instead of all on the first page. Once you’ve seen a cluster of results from one site, Google will bar the site from reappearing and cluttering your search feed again. 6. The algorithm will affect multiple languages. According to multiple sources, the updated Google Penguin 2.0 will affect websites in multiple languages. 7. Guest blogging will not be as effective as it used to be.Why? Well, Google found out that it’s super-easy for lazy webmasters to find a bunch of free guest blogging websites where you can stick your URL in an author profile, and then blast out a ton of content just to get that backlink. When you blog, don’t duplicate bios; try to create an original bio for each blog. Focus less on your keywords, and more on your anchor text. Authentic guest blogs are identified by these measures now.
Who Lost Out?
So, who lost in the algorithm changes? Dish.com and Educational Testing Service were some of the big names actually using bad SEO for their websites who got penalized. The biggest industry to get affected were Retailers and Real Estate, with a 33% affected rate, according to SEOMoz. Other than that, big websites with untrusted links and small business who hadn’t taken SEO seriously were at the ends of the spectrum, both getting the most affected by Penguin 2.0. SearchMetrics analyzed a whole slew, the list can be found here. Interestingly, it ranges from the Salvation Army to over five different porn websites.
Contrast of Gains & Losses Across Websites
Also from SEOMoz, here’s a brief contrast to see what went backwards and what gained traction and went forwards from the Google updates:
Amazon lost out from the rankings; Wikipedia gained.
Pinterest gained from the rankings; AllRecipies.com lost.
Indeed.com lost out from the rankings; Ebay gained.
Yelp was the biggest loser, at over -8%: Twitter gained the largest growth, at 4%.
What’s the Biggest Things Website Owners Can Take Away from the Penguin Update?
1. Don’t panic. Google Zebra might be tomorrow. Since Google updates all the time, putting a big name on it and labeling the changes is just identifying the changes. It’s not going to stop your world by any means, and for most of the world, it won’t affect in a major way. In short, don’t be terror-stricken. 2. Realize you can’t maintain excellent SEO presence without original, excellent content. Google SERP rankings are now heavily dependent on the amount of content you publish, the value of that content and the originality of that content. Big players like SearchEngineJournal are saying that the quality of your content is the SINGLE, most important factor in maintaining a successful website. 3. Get social. This means Google +, folks. Google likes their own, and adding people in your circles and posting your blogs on their social network is only going to get you favor. Use tools like Hootsuite to sign up on one account and schedule a bunch of posts to go out at optimal times across all your networks. 4. Gain reputable inbound links. Even if it costs money, invest the money necessary to get only the highest quality backlinks for your website. Some are saying content marketing is the new link building. Publishing a blog on a network with your website backlink on it is probably the best backlink you can build (whether that network is your blog domain or a guest blog domain). 5. Consider investing in press releases. This is also linked to the hard-hitting by Google on link spam. An SEO Press Release is one of the best ways to get a backlink, besides blogging and organic article writing and posting on your website. A PR can offer more link juice than a regular blog because one Press Release can hit thousands of locations. And since it’s “news,” it’s not considered duplicate—while you get all those links out of it! Things to consider in creating an effective PR: it must be written well, and it must be newsworthy. PRs can bring in real human eyes, and conversions, if written well enough and attracting the audience directly.
Keywords
Google Penguin 2.0 is going to be picking up keywords that include these variations:
Primary
Derivatives
Synonyms
So, instead of one keyword stuck throughout your content, think of as many phrases as you can (up to 5-10 per 500 words).
There’s lots more we could say, but that’s about the gist of what you need to know for your website content–in a nicely 1,500+ condensed words. Did you lose from Google Penguin 2.0? We’d love to hear in the comments! Bonus — Links we liked that are very helpful:
