[Part of a continuing series.] In the world of Search Engine Optimization, the cute- and cuddly-sounding critters—Panda and Penguin—are decidedly frightening beasts. They are code names for Google algorithm updates with a digital “license to kill” the black-hat bad guys and to praise and reward high quality content.
White-hat Internet marketers need not fear, but unless you watch your step, Panda and Penguin may be out to kill your website. Here’s the brief back-story, and what to do to tame these critters.
To deliberately oversimplify, a vital key to Internet Marketing is online search; the key to online search is medical search engine optimization (SEO); and the key to SEO is Google. There’s a lot more to successful medical marketing online, but perhaps the most important component is playing well with Google’s rules of search.
Search Engine Optimization is a fusion of art and science that Google has packed into an incredibly complex, artificial intelligence algorithm. Exactly how it works is a trade secret, but what it does is what’s important.
The Panda series of updates (2011), and the Penguin series (2012) are on a mission to deliver quality results for Google search users. Websites that provide poor user experience are ranked lower. Deliberate manipulation techniques—such as keyword stuffing, duplicate content. spamming—are not allowed. And the websites that demonstrate quality characteristics are recognized as having greater value, importance and relevance in the search process and PageRank reporting.
The first six (non-technical) tips on the SEO road to success…
Increasingly, prospective patients are looking first to the Internet (websites, blogs, social media, etc.) for information and guidance about health-related questions, helpful resources and actionable peer recommendations.
Experienced professionals are best qualified to handle all the intricate techie details of optimizing for successful search. But there’s no need to get technical until you master these bedrock elements.
These SEO tips are among the easiest to implement and are some of the most important considerations to improved PageRank and avoiding the painful bite of the Penguin and Panda.
We’ll be bringing you additional post in this series. And for reference, see our previous articles: Search Engine Optimization Strategies for Doctors Tired of Being Invisible Onlineand Healthcare Search Engine Optimization – Spiders, Crawlers and Bots.
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