As Dan Thies and Leslie Rohde have commented there are some positives especially if you are recovering from a Panda update. If the Panda changes are happening regularly then you will not have to wait so long to see if you have been successful in regaining rankings. On the other hand it will be more difficult to confirm if a Panda change has been the culprit if and when your site suffers a SERPs fall.

So as we have reiterated many times on this site, content, content, content. Make sure you have quality, original but compelling content on your site. Gain links naturally and do not try to game Google!

… Something which literally no one talks about, and that’s the words which surround the actual link on a page. If you think about it from a user perspective then it makes sense to have a link which is relevant to the conversation, and not one which has nothing to do with the paragraph they’re reading.

For example, if your paragraph is all about the topic of dog training, and then the link in the middle of the paragraph is for ‘instant credit loans’ then that’s a massive disconnect for the user, and completely off topic for the page and the specific paragraph. They outline it briefly in the patent:

So, make sure that when you’re placing your link in the body text of the page that the surrounding text in the sentence is relevant to the anchor text.

Again, you can use the Google’s External Keyword Tool to see what other words are relevant by putting in your anchor text and getting back what Google says is relevant, then craft the sentence / paragraph using some of those relevant words in the structure. Just make sure the sentence / paragraph reads naturally and doesn’t just look like 50 keywords put back-to-back – remember that it’s all about providing useful information to the reasonable surfer in an effort to get them to click on a link.

On your own pages it is easy to control the text surrounding a link so get it right and maximise your page ranking. Of course, the problem is more difficult on external links and the surrounding content. Guest posting becomes a good technique here as you can control the content and the embedded links!

For more great tips about linking read the Edge document.

Remember to use this tool with care – links are your lifeblood and DO NOT REMOVE good links. As Matt Cutts says very few people should need to use this tool. Deletions will take some time before the effect is seen, and Matt warns that changing your mind at a later date may result in a long delay if implemented at all!

Google Disawow Tool: Click Here

How to Use a 301 Redirect for #SEO: Free SEO Webinar from the Search Engine …

“The Search Engine Academy will host a free SEO webinar and Thomas Petty, Master SEO Instructor will explain what a 301 redirect is and how to use it properly for SEO. | Virtual Strategy Magazine is an online publication devoted entirely to …”

“301 redirect” is a technical term for being able to change a web page to another by redirecting the browser to a new web address. It’s a critical step in making sure that the search engines like Google index the right pages.

http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2012/07/10/how-use-301-redirect-seo-free-seo-webinar-search-engine-academy

Blekko SEO Tool Now Gets More Up-To-Date Info from Search Engine

“Blekko has integrated more recent crawl data from their search engine crawler into their free SEO tools, giving marketers access to link data, duplicate content …searchenginewatch.com/…/Blekko-SEO-Tool-Now-Gets-More…”

Blekko highlighted five of the most noteworthy upgrades:

• Continuous updating of its crawl and index
• Hourly updates for top ranked sites 
• Continuous updating of SEO data, including page content, meta data, and duplicate text 
• Continuous updating of inbound link counts 
• More than 4 billion page indexed, and more than 100 million pages updated daily

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2189712/Blekko-SEO-Tool-Now-Gets-More-Up-To-Date-Info-from-Search-Engine-Crawler%3Futm_source%3Dfeedburner%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DFeed%253A%2Bsew%2B(Search%2BEngine%2BWatch)

SEO Strategies for Penguin – Video

Following hot on the heels of the Panda updates comes the Penguin update (first of many as the algorithm evolves – so many more sleepless nights for webmasters!). The Penguin update is supposed to improve search engine results by removing sites that have spammed Google with poor quality links, and repetitive anchor links.  Once again we emphasise our mantra: Content, Content, Content – that is unique, original, and fascinating content.

So once again we remind that you should be developing sites for your users NOT the search engines – this way you will not get hooked into over SEOing your site.

If you need to “promote” your site, then make sure your links appear natural – incoming links should be coming from a variety sources: other sites, article directories / blogs, forums, blog commenting, press releases, guest posts on blogs. Make sure your anchor text is diverse, and the links are placed within content about your “theme”. Avoid stupid signals to Google – why have a link to your perfume site in an article about dog training? Don’t’ forget to use your own site to its full capacity: make sure you use internal linking between pages.

Penguin Update Posts:

Link-Assistant.Com Suggests a Coherent Strategy for Dealing with Major SEO …
As a result of Google Penguin update, some webmasters report on dramatic traffic drops, others are worried their turn is yet to come. To give the SEO community a hand, we have put together best tips to survive the update unaffected. Link-Assistant.

Link-Assistant.Com Suggests a Coherent Strategy for Dealing with Major SEO …
“The idea behind the so-called Penguin update is straightforward and apparently benefiting for the search landscape: produce great content, avoid webspam techniques (keywords stuffing, link schemes and such) and rank high,” says Viktar Khamianok, CEO, …

Planning on duplicating content? Think again, says Google
Google’s Penguin updates are known to instil fear in marketing execs across the globe as they scramble to update their online campaigns to suit its latest features. And while trying to predict what will happen next is a little bit like playing a very …

Penguin Update Video

Using Blog Networks has been a popular route for webmasters / seo firms to gain links via articles. Of course, you are trying to game Google and when Google finds out it will devalue such links. That time is now – so you have been warned. Andy Williams and others have outed Build My Rank – no doubt other blog networks may follow.

Firstly Andy Williams …

Build My Rank – one of the blog networks I used on sites that have dropped from page 1 to page 2 or 3 has seen lots of its websites de-indexed from Google.  Other blog networks have seen similar de-indexing.

I think this is a big lesson for marketers to learn.  If you take on Google to try to beat the system, it may work for a while, but eventually big G will catch up on you.

More details: http://ezseonews.com/internet-marketing-tips/ezseo-newsletter-332/

Other Blog Network reports

Build My Rank Deindexed – The Future of Link Building
…known private blog network, was deindexed by Google on 3/19 and shut their doors effective 3/20! Lots of people are scared and aren’t sure what this means going forward. What happens to the future of link building? What does it mean for the future of blog networks? I’m working on a full analysis – with interviews. No worries, we’re on top of it!…
from Michelle MacPhearson – Mar 20, 2012 (2 days ago)

How Garbage Ranks in the SERPs: a Case Study
…and private blog network posts?  Wouldn’t that be helpful?  Even for the ultra-white hats, using this approach could eliminate these cheap links and make it more efficient to identify legitimate editorial links that you might try to match. Taking Link Analysis a Step Further — Using Semantic Markup to Identify Link Types The good news i…
from SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

Blog Network Outed & Google Responds
I was doing some answering on Google Webmaster Central this morning when I spotted a thread where someone outed a link network publicly. This should be a little alarming to those blackhatter’s out there who do the same thing and don’t cover their tracks. What’s even more strange to see is an actual Google employee …
from Link Building

Related articles

• Link networks de-indexed – now what?(skyrocketseo.co.uk)

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• BuildMyRank Shuts Down Their Link Network(bloggingtips.com)

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• Google De-indexes and Penalizes Private Blog Networks(webpronews.com)

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• Google Search and Destroy of Private Blog Networks(lostballinhighweeds.com)

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2. Linking to old posts
Just because you’ve published a post doesn’t mean you should forget about it. Each post is a valuable asset in which you can give new life to with each link.

3. Linking to other Bloggers
Outbound Links (especially to authority sites) ALSO help you to get authority juice.

4. Fill out your page title and description fields
The meta data is critical to search engines crawling and indexing your site. And when you use keywords properly, it tells those spiders what the page is all about. You can use plugins on WordPress to automate this process such as All in One SEO.

5. Creating clunky URLs
Those long urls with ? and lots of = can be easily replaced in wordpress by using a simple permalink structure.

So a good url will be something like www.mydomain.com/keyword-rich-post-title

6. Quality Unique Content
Do not copy others (!!) – don’t plagiarise; and make sure credit the sources.

7. Publish Regularly
SoeMoz recommend that you publish an article / post at least onnce a month!

8. Use short sentences
Make it snappy and avoid long sentences like the plague. You are trying to engage with readers (potential customers) so make it easily readable.

9. Use Social media
Use Google +, Twitter, Facebook, Social Bookmark sites to publicise your post

10 Invite readers to comment
Good to engage with your readers but also more free content!

Full article and more advice: 12 Things That Will Kill Your Blog Post Every Time

Related articles

• Understand and Rock the Google Venice Update(seomoz.org)

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“Old” pages on your site might already have authority and Page Rank so adding a new link on an old page will help you to rank a new page. Yes, this might have been true in the good ole days but no more.

Tim Grice wrote a report: Links In Old, Crawled Content Don’t Pass Weight which confirms that old authority pages do not pass “oomph” you expected.

Adding NEW links to OLD pages: Freshen Content

However, this is not the end of the story. It seems that you need to freshen your old page before getting the oomph you expected. So OK add your new link but work in some new content around the link as well. Google will see the page extra fresh material and reward your link accordingly. Whilst adding the new content, it may be wise to freshen your title tag to reflect the new content.

Does the same apply to external links? Say you can persuade a webmaster to update a link to your site from the webmaster’s site – will that pass rank too? Well, it seems the same applies – try to work in some new content again. Of course, some webmasters are resistant to adding new content. So it is up to you to boost the authority of the webmaster’s page with some social media links or other inbound links.

The SeoMoz video below explains the theory more fully:  Adding NEW links to OLD pages

Google Reference:
Why would this happen? Why would Google care if it’s an old page or a new page? We don’t know exactly, but we do have some hints from some patent filings that Google has filed, specifically, Document Scoring Based on Document Content Update. It’s been filed over and over again in different variations throughout the years. It’s kind of like the manifesto of how Google runs its search engine.  So it seems that Adding new links to old pages CAN work if you take a fresh approach!

One of the questions we are constantly asked about is the use of Flash (particularly on the home page). Jonathan Hochman has an interesting article on this topic. Here is an extract.

Search-Friendly Flash

Search engines have the ability to read Flash files and extract text and links. In particular, Google and Adobe announced a new algorithm for indexing textual Flash content on June 20, 2008. As explained by Rand Fishkin in Flash and SEO – Compelling Reasons Why Search Engines & Flash Still Don’t Mix, and Vanessa Fox in Search-Friendly Flash?, hoping that search engines can decipher you Flash is not a substitute for providing indexable HTML content.

Requirements for Successful Use of Flash

Flash animation is a great way to present complex content because it allows the designer to put more content in a finite space, without wrecking page design. For technology sites, Flash is an ideal way to present a slide show or movie explaining a complex product. At the other end of the spectrum, art and entertainment sites have a real need for multimedia, and Flash is the perfect solution.

When using Flash, we’d like to satisfy each of these objectives:

•     Clean design
•     Search Engine Optimization
•     Accessibility for a wide variety of browsers, including screen readers and mobile phones
•     Code validation and standards compliance
•     Correct functionality with IE

Reference: How to SEO Flash