First, we had Google Panda, then Google Penguin. Quite understandably, a few of my clients are chuckling at the names… Unfortunately, one is doing so between gritted teeth having been hit hard.
Their website is suffering from a backlash on some ‘cheap’ outsourced link building they did a couple of years ago. The recent changes to the Google Algorithm have seen their traffic drop by 50% over a three month period, despite efforts to organise and sort content (re. Panda). I think we’re at the bottom of the curve now, but it’s an expensive hit to take as enquiries dry up.
The Google Penguin update earlier this year has definitely made my phone ring a little more with worried companies wondering what I can do to help to salvage something.
Sometimes it’s reversible, and sometimes (as the saying goes) it would be like polishing a turd.
Is The Damage Reversible?
If I look at the client site that’s been hit that I am working on, we have re-engineered the content to be more structured, adding specific pages for specific parts of their business. We can’t undo all the shitty links that were built, but we can concentrate on creating quality moving forward and hopefully dilute the crappy links.
This website (when I took it on during May 2011) was over engineered for SEO (as so many are), which we have toned back and we are now beginning to see green shoots during the second half of May.
Smug Little Craig
Throughout the past few years, I have banged the drum for ethical website marketing, despite calls from some clients to be more aggressive. I think this proves that I made the right decision as most of my other websites are flying.
Be Content with Content
It all comes back to content:
- If you create pages that say what you do and where you do it.
- If you write articles that are more interesting than the competition.
- If you give people a reason to actually like your site.
They will come, they will come again and they will share – socially, and in a way that search engines like Google notice.
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