Panda Update Hurt, but why?
-
Hi, my name is Sam and I am new to this forum and SEOMOZ. I got hit hard in rankings after the Panda Update and was really suprised. I do not use any black hat SEO I am aware of, do not keyword stuff, and dont even have a tag cloud. Just wondering what in the world I did to get hit hard. Anyone else have this happen, and If so what would be good SEOMOZ tool(s) to use? I will admit SEO has always confused me. From my experience it's not always the best site (relevance) that gets ranked the highest. I feel like I'm missing something with SEO. I'm hoping this SEOMOZ site will help. I may end up hiring someone from Elance to do my SEO, lol.
Sam
-
Hi Sam,
If it was Penguin that hit you, I would focus on these items, as Penguin was primarily backlink related:
- You appear to have a link exchange directory for doing link exchanges: http://www.dfwgolfcourseguide.com/links.html Suggest removing the links directory and don't do link exchanges (it's OK to do a few with a couple high quality, relevant sites).
- You may be using too many keyword anchor texts. A natural link profile typically has more brand and url anchor texts than keyword. See http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/anchors?site=www.dfwgolfcourseguide.com and https://www.majesticseo.com/reports/site-explorer/anchor-text?folder=&q=dfwgolfcourseguide.com&oq=dfwgolfcourseguide.com and http://www.searchenginejournal.com/anchor-text-optimization-case-study-whats-natural/43404/ and http://www.searchenginejournal.com/post-penguin-seo-link-building-the-naked-url-truth/46936/
- Your links appear to be mainly from blog comments, directories, and link pages, which tend to be low quality links.
Hope that helps!
~Adam
-
Adam,
My rankings were pretty good until shortly after Penguin, then it came crumbling down, so I am going by the time frame. When I first saw this the first thought that came to my mind was the Link exchange pages. Your right It's time for that to go, Google clearly does not like this.
As far as more content on the courses pages, I will have to look into it. When I created those pages there were very few sites that listed the 180 or so golf courses that are in the Dallas Fort Worth area, only the most popular seemed to be listed on the main sites. I wanted to make available a complete listing. Having said that, adding content my competitors do not have would be great. I will have to try to come up with something unique to add, just not sure what that is yet.
Sam
-
Hi Sam,
What day did your rankings drop (this will help determine which update hit your site)?
Here are some possible issues that could be hurting you with Panda or Penguin:
- You appear to have a link exchange directory for doing link exchanges: http://www.dfwgolfcourseguide.com/links.html Suggest removing the links directory and don't do link exchanges (it's OK to do a few with a couple high quality, relevant sites).
- The course pages don't have much unique content,and the content they do have is also on other sites: http://www.golftexas.com/golf-courses/north-central/burleson/southern-oaks-golf-club.htm Suggest adding unique content to each course page.
- You may be using too many keyword anchor texts. A natural link profile typically has more brand and url anchor texts than keyword. See http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/anchors?site=www.dfwgolfcourseguide.com and https://www.majesticseo.com/reports/site-explorer/anchor-text?folder=&q=dfwgolfcourseguide.com&oq=dfwgolfcourseguide.com and http://www.searchenginejournal.com/anchor-text-optimization-case-study-whats-natural/43404/ and http://www.searchenginejournal.com/post-penguin-seo-link-building-the-naked-url-truth/46936/
- Your links appear to be mainly from blog comments, directories, and link pages, which tend to be low quality links.
-
Yes Adam, it www.dfwgolfcourseguide.com.
Sam
-
Can you share your site URL with us?
-
Hi, I would suggest checking your site for duplicate content. Sites with duplicate content and "over optimization" were hit hard with the Google updates.
I highly recommend you create a Campaign on SEOmoz. Once it crawls your site, it will give you detailed information on all of the errors and warnings for your site, duplicate content, too long of title tags, missing meta descriptions, broken URLS, etc.
You can also use the "On-Page Optimization Tool" under "Research Tools." You can check each URL on your site with a keyword.
Between the campaign option and the On-Page Optimization Tool, you should be able to figure out where some problems are. Best of luck!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Why don't I have permission to view the update calendar?
I am trying to figure out when the next Open Site update will be. In the past I have just gone here - https://seomoz.zendesk.com/entries/345964-linkscape-update-schedule It is saying I do not have permission even though I am logged in. Anyone else having issues? Or if anyone can see it can they see when the next update is?
Moz Pro | | EcommerceSite0 -
Bing Algo Updates?
I am of the belief it is bad to be "too" Google-centric. Many people have found that out with Panda, Penguin and Venice in recent years - all eggs in one basket and after one update you are out for the count (if you we're naughty of course). Anyway, That aside I enjoy looking at are reminding myself about Google Algo Updates using the SEOMoz Google Change Log (a bit like Gina Tripani's change log on This Week in Google, but only more Algo focused) - http://www.seomoz.org/google-algorithm-change So, my question - is there a version of Bing somewhere out there?
Moz Pro | | SEOAndy0 -
Update in Moz spider/tools?? Flagging duplicate content / ignoring canonical
Hi all, Has there been an update in the SEOmoz crawling software? We now have thousands of dupe content/page title warnings for paginated product page URLs that have correctly formatted canonicals. e.g. http://www.woolovers.com/british-wool/mens/tweed-green/wool-countryman-suede-patch-sweater.aspx ... has following pages with identical content that have been flagged: http://www.woolovers.com/british-wool/mens/olive-green/wool-countryman-suede-patch-sweater.aspx?p=true&rspage=4 http://www.woolovers.com/british-wool/mens/olive-green/wool-countryman-suede-patch-sweater.aspx?p=true&rspage=6 http://www.woolovers.com/british-wool/mens/olive-green/wool-countryman-suede-patch-sweater.aspx?p=true&rspage=4 ..plus 4 more URL's. But they all have canonical set. There's even a notice at the bottom of report that tells us there's a canonical set to http://www.woolovers.com/british-wool/mens/tweed-green/wool-countryman-suede-patch-sweater.aspx What gives, SEOmoz ?? Thanks Michael
Moz Pro | | LawrenceNeal0 -
Issue with Data Updates on Campaign
I'm reviewing a campaign I am running for a client, the Keywords data has not updated yet even though it's supposed to update every monday. The competitive analysis shows a date of August 14, which is odd becuase I'm on a trial account?
Moz Pro | | amerihope0 -
Why isn't Ranking Updated?
I see that my rankings are not updated. Why is that so? Do we have to do something else for ranking to update or is it automatic? It's said that ranking updates every tuesday. Also when does the next Linkscape update take place? JGHjA.png
Moz Pro | | ConversionChamp0 -
Open Site explorer (last 1-3 updates) shows new and wierd results
Hi Moz'ers! I have a questions for you guys. Can you explain why the website "Netspiren" has a lower "domain Authority" than "Duft og Natur"? See screenshot. I know it's a tough question without a detailed analysis, but looking at OSE's data, does the mozrank,moztrust, C-block don't reflect the power of the Domain Authority. What's you take? BTW: "Netspiren" has always had more and better links, and also had a higher Domain Authority. Something about the Domain Authority changed since the past 1-3 OXE updates. Looking forward for your take on this! Have a good weekend! mnRPI.png
Moz Pro | | FrederikTrovatten220 -
Linkscape update
anyone else getting strange result from the new linkscape update? i've got a pa 78 and da 73 and it was pa 40 da 39 last week, and not much has changed, i know it shouldn't be that high another site has decreased when some top media sites have linked to it over the last month, strange.
Moz Pro | | chrisdragonsdesign0 -
How often do you update Link Analysis tool?
Wondering how often SEOMOZ updates their Link Analysis pages? I have had the same status for a month or so - although I know we have added links, etc.
Moz Pro | | findachristianjob0