8 SEO Tips in a Panda World

In this Panda world I’ve been taking courses and doing some serious research and study on how to get/keep top Google rankings.

SEO has changed a lot, although some things never change – good onsite optimization means you don’t have to worry about every little update – your site will be solid.

The Panda update did make everyone step up their game, though, especially in Google Places and link building. I spent 2 solid months researching, studying and revising my SEO methods to conform to the Panda world.

Here are my Top SEO Tips after Panda

Onsite SEO

1. Increase the content of your pages and posts. At least 500 words, and 700 if possible. Make sure you use good grammar and check your spelling. Points off if you don’t do a good job there, just like in English class.
2. If you don’t have videos on your site, add them. You can get videos from YouTube about anything at all. Better yet, make your own. You can do that easily by converting a PowerPoint into a video. The one on this page was put together very quickly using these instructions. It’s not the best but I wanted to show you what you can do using free products.
3. If your business is local, create and upload locations.kml  and geositemap.xml files to your root folder. Here’s a handy dandy geositemap generator. It also explains what to do once they’re created.

Google Places SEO

1. If you have a local business then you need to get busy if you expect to compete. I seriously suggest having an SEO specialist do this for you. There are many details within a Google Places listing that can help you rank well, or kill your listing. On top of that, what worked before doesn’t work now.
2. Make certain you hire someone who is experienced and can show proof of ranking businesses…there are a lot of people who claim to be SEO experts but are not. Don’t waste your money or worse, your chance to be competitive.

Link Building

1. Article marketing is still good, but make certain your content is valuable and not just rehashed crap. Also, longer is better. Ezine requires 400 and sometimes 600 words in an article. I suggest at least 700 if possible.
2. Videos videos videos. Google loves them. You don’t have to show your face in them either, so if that part bothers you like it did me, just provide information.
3. Social media is becoming ever more important. You need to have the following for your business: Facebook, Twitter, Linked In. Blog posts or articles should go to FB and Linked In, as well as Tweeted. There are tools you can use to automate this.

Google is asking us to provide more quality information in a variety of communication methods. This actually should not be too hard if your website is a business, because there are always plenty of things to talk about, explain, announce, demonstrate, and offer. Think of who, what, when, where and why.

If you’re an IM’er you have to provide more content and be smarter about your back linking. You need a plan; just winging it won’t get you far at all.

It’s time to take Internet marketing seriously. Local businesses need to cancel their yellow pages ads and put that money into their websites and online marketing efforts. The competition already has.