Has Panda 4.0 Put My Website At Risk For A Google Penalty?

With the new update of the Google 4.0 Panda Algorithm, your current website could be at risk for a Google Penalty. This means that if your website does not comply with specific rules, your website may drop your website from search results.

What Is Google Panda?

Google panda is a change to Google’s Algorithm in how it outputs its search results. The aim of Google Panda has been to ensure that low-quality sites are ranked lower than that of higher-quality sites. Panda has been specifically geared to helping out small businesses in web search. The ultimate objective is to ensure that websites with quality content are near the top of Google Search Results.

What puts my website at risk for penalization from Google?

1. Having plagiarized content either on your website, or if another website has copied your content is a huge red flag for Google. Be aware, if someone copies your content, your website becomes at risk for violation too!
2. Duplicate internal content. Too much of the same content copied to multiple pages on your website will cause Google to believe that your site is low quality. Use the online tool called Siteliner to detect duplicate content (linked at end of post).
3. Over optimized content or links. Too many keywords and too many optimized links will cause Google to believe your site is over optimized. Avoid making it obvious that you have optimized your site for search engine rankings; your site needs to feel natural and designed for the user.
4. Manual penalty. This is when the Google Search Quality team manually becomes aware that your site is violating Google Webmaster Guidelines.

How do I know if my website has violated Google terms?

• “Google” your company name. If you have done all the proper SEO tactics and you are still not showing up in search, or your search ranking has dropped dramatically, it is possible that Google has penalized your website because it violates their quality guidelines.
• Check your Google Analytics. If suddenly your site stats have dropped for no reason, this is a good indication that Google has given you a penalty.
• Check your Google Webmaster Tools. Google will often give you a warning that your website has defied their guidelines.
• How do I know if I have plagiarized or if someone has copied my content?

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Online Plagiarized Content Tools

There are great tools that exist to see if you are guilty of plagiarism or if someone has copied your content.

A few of our favorites are:

• CopyScape
• DupliChecker

What Do I do if someone has copied my website content or I have plagiarized content on my own website?

• Report the website that has stolen your content to Google through Google Webmaster Tools
• Rewrite the content on your website that either you have plagiarized or someone has copied from you.
• Ensure that all of your original content on your website has been given proper authorship to your company.
• Contact the owner of the website that has stolen your content. Send them a kind email asking them to remove the copied text.
• Once you are certain that your website has new content that does not violate Google’s terms, resubmit your website for Google reconsideration. You should see your website back in search rankings in as little as 12 hours (note, this can take up to a few weeks).

Are you having trouble updating your website?

Consider switching to a content management system.

If you are still uncertain if your website violates terms, contact SOS Media Corp. today to have one of our SEO experts ensure your content is SEO friendly. Don’t have time to rewrite your content? We have in house copywriters that can make sure your content does not violate Google terms.

Useful Links:

Detect duplicate content inside your own website : Siteliner
Detect plagiarized web content: CopyScape
Detect plagiarized web content: Duplichecker