by Ben Francia |Last Updated: May 16, 2012 
CC Image courtesy of BBVAtech on Flickr
After the dreaded Panda spread pandemonium for Internet marketers and huge corporations who use content farms and other relevant forms of link building practices, Google introduces yet another threat to SEO in the form of Happy Feet… armed with a machine gun and some nasty jungle knives.
That’s right, folks.
The Google Penguin Update.
Now, traditional link building strategies that have been relatively be considered “legit” can be the downfall of websites who employ such a method. For instance, the accumulation of, say, thousands of links with only one keyword as anchor text will put your blog or website in the slums of the SERPs.
That said, it’s going to be much more difficult to get a good ranking in Google. In this article, I’ll show you how to keep yourself from being penguin putted to the SERP slums by providing actionable advice and tactics. Check it out:
Drop the spammy link building strategies
That’s right, folks. Quit going to some shady (or sleazy) site to purchase a bunch of backlinks. It may do you more harm than good and you can bet your behind it’s going to hit you like karma. Trust me when I say this, I know a lot of people whose websites were in the first few pages and are now, through underhanded link building tactics, are in SERP oblivion.
Don’t rely on Google for traffic
There are lots of channels where you can get traffic to your blog. One example (and so far, the most successful one) is from social media networks. Look at it this way: The most engaged traffic I have with the lowest bounce rates come from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Also, if you’re not into social (yet), it may be a good time to get in to PPC. Nothing really wrong with spending a few dollars on some highly targeted and motivated traffic. It’s all going to convert sooner or later.
Write for your audience, not the robots
By that, I mean write as naturally as possible. Writing for search engines usually means spewing out a few target keywords (well, in most cases, a lot) without ever really providing any helpful information. When you write naturally and come from a space of providing value to your audience, you don’t risk looking spammy and you gain some trust points.
You’ll never go wrong with being authentic.
Go social
Speaking of being authentic, what better way to build more links and trust points than by utilizing the power of social media? Let’s face it. Soon, traditional link building strategies will be outlawed by the Big G and the only way to get authority votes is to gather an audience and get them to link to you with fresh and interesting content.
May sound simple enough, but I’m not done yet:
- Take note of every social network relevant to your niche, join it and build an audience.
- Create high-value content that is just begging to be shared. The more it’s shared, the higher the chances of reaching other people – this means more chances of being linked to or mentioned in the social networks.
With the power of social media in your hands (and the socialization of the Internet and Google), you’ll be sure that you’ll gain enough trust points to give you authority – something very important if you want Google to put you where you feel you deserve.
Connect with websites and webmasters
Another good way to build links legitimately is to be friends with other webmasters and business owners. It’s not really a long shot if you think it out enough. Here’s what you need to remember:
You get what you give.
So acknowledge them in your blog, link to their posts, comment on their blog and provide value. This should get them to feel that you have the purest intentions of just engaging and, at the end of the day, when you’ve given enough, you’ll get one legit link and pretty much the same value that you’ve put in..
Again, one pure link is better than a thousand shady links (which could, at the end of the day or update, land you in no-man’s land).
That’s about it for surviving the dreaded penguin, folks. Remember, provide value and do things right. With that, you’ll be safe from Penguin Paranoia.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
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