OK, so one of the sites that I manage has been badly hit by the Google Panda update (previously known as Farmer Update). I have been busy implementing various changes which mostly deal with removing poor content.
It is generally thought that the latest Google search algo update penalizes websites that have some poor quality content. How poor quality content is defined is a mystery, but anything duplicated or abbreviated is likely to be top of the list of poor. So WordPress tag pages, category pages, archives and any other pages that just repeat content from the main page are likely suspects to bring a site down.
Is WordPress The Main Problem Regarding Panda?
Some people have commented how there are many WordPress sites that have suffered from the Panda update and believe that there is something specific about WordPress that has caused this. However, I do not believe that Google will penalize a website just because it is build on WordPress. It is more likely to be that WordPress sites have suffered most because it is such a popular platform. Google loves open source and people love WordPress because it is free.
So, what have I been doing today?
My first task was to delete all WordPress tags that had been used less than 5 times. Some people delete all tags and forget about them, but I do use them for navigation, they are very useful. For example, I have categorized this post as SEO Advice and so far tagged it as Panda. If I was to write more on Panda, I would tag the new articles Panda too. I do not plan on doing so though, as there are many heavyweight SEOs talking Panda to death already.
So, I deleted tags. I also tackled all the errors that I could from the Google Webmaster Tools, such as the soft and hard 404′s, duplicate titles and descriptions etc.
Next task is something that I picked up on Amit Agarwal’s blog about recovering from Panda. In it he explained that as well as trashing loads of tags and working through the error reports he also noindex sub-pages of tags and categories.
Now, this sounds like a good idea. On busy categories I may have 50 pages, and each of these is containing duplicate content. But, how to keep the main category page? I have until today been using the All in One SEO Pack, however, Tam, a regular poster over at Cre8asiteforums.com suggested that I give Platinum SEO Pack. I just tested it, and by jove it works! It does precisely what Amit Agarwal explains on his blog.
Other Good Things About Platinum SEO Pack
I was a little concerned about using it at first, as I was worried about the effect it may have on changing loads of descriptions. But it has a nice little import from All in One SEO Pack function.
The Procedure I Used To Migrate from All In One To Platinum
- Deactivate All in One SEO Pack
- Activate Platinum SEO Pack
- Press “Migrate from All in one SEO”
- Ignore the recommendation to backup the database (best backup just in case)
- Check that “Use noindex for sub pages” is ticked
Job done.
As an example, the source code for webologist.co.uk/category/google reads:
<!– platinum seo pack 1.3.7 –> <meta name=”robots” content=”index,follow,noodp,noydir” /> <link rel=”canonical” href=”/category/google” /> <!– /platinum one seo pack –>
and the source code for webologist.co.uk/category/google/page/2 reads:
<!– platinum seo pack 1.3.7 –> <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex,follow,noodp,noydir” /> <link rel=”canonical” href=”/category/google/page/2″ /> <!– /platinum one seo pack –>
Note that Google’s search bots can still spider their way through the sub-pages, they just will not be indexed. So links back to the main blog, i.e. posts, will be followed and then ranked accordingly.
Where have my descriptions gone?
Noticed 2 things:
- I seem to have lost descriptions. This is a bad thing.
- I have no idea what noodp and noydir are.
So, fix descriptions time.
“By checking this option, your META descriptions will get auto-generated, if there’s no excerpt. i.e. the first 160 characters of your post/page content will be automatically assigned to the meta description tag.”
Ok, it seems that as I was running the All In One SEO Pack I had deleted the WordPress META description code from the templates. Need to pop that back in.
Will test then update…….
Ah, no, descriptions are there on the post pages, just not the cat pages. That is OK, if Google decides to list the first category page then it can make up its own description.
So for this post, the META is:
<!– platinum seo pack 1.3.7 –>
<meta name=”robots” content=”index,follow,noodp,noydir” />
<meta name=”description” content=”OK, so one of the sites that I manage has been badly hit by the Google Panda update (previously known as Farmer Update). I have been busy implementing various” />
<link rel=”canonical” href=”/search-engine-optimisation/fighting-pandas-with-platinum-seo-pack-1-3-7″ />
<!– /platinum one seo pack –>
I do seem to have two descriptions though. It was on another blog that I deleted the default WordPress one. Above this description I also have:
<meta name=”description” content=”OK, so one of the sites that I manage has been badly hit by the Google Panda update (previously known as Farmer Update). I have been busy implementing vari…” />
<meta name=”keywords” content=”Panda,” />
<title>Fighting Pandas With Platinum SEO Pack 1.3.7 | Webologist</title>
Guess I can get shot of the first description that WordPress generates.
Anyway, if you want the Platy All In Oner then you can find it via your Plugin search in WordPress or get it direct from wordpress.org/extend/plugins/platinum-seo-pack
Will The Save Me From Pandas?
No idea.
