Google Penguin 2.0 SEO Tips‏

Google Penguin 2.0 SEO Tips‏

Google just loves throwing us humble affiliate marketers a curve ball (or two). I'm only young, but since I've been affiliate marketing there have been both the dreaded Panda and Penguin updates, which had a devastating effect on many affiliates. However, here at Affilorama we have been teaching great strategies for overcoming Google updates and actually increasing your bottom line while others might be losing their traffic, rankings, and profits.
Keeping up with tradition Google released Penguin 2.0 on May 22, 2013. According to Matt Cutts, Penguin 2.0 is not just a minor data refresh but actually a full algorithm update. This meant that around 2.3% of English search queries were impacted to a noticeable level, and this is figure is likely to increase over time. Penguin 2.0 heralds the release of a new generation of Google algorithms. Having a quick browse around webmaster forums and SEO blogs reveals that many webmasters, bloggers, and affiliates have been pounded by this new iteration of Penguin.
But enough with the news; you're here because you want to know how Penguin 2.0 affects your affiliate marketing, and what you can do to actually profit from it. In this article I'm going to teach you everything you need to know about Penguin 2.0, and the state of play of SEO going-forward. You will learn some exciting new tactics for boosting your search ranking and traffic, as well as other cutting-edge methods for ensuring that you profit from Google updates.
To understand how to dominate SEO in the current environment, you need to understand the ethos behind Google's algorithm updates. Although it can be tempting to "cop out" and just say that Google hates affiliates, this is not a satisfying conclusion. Instead we need to dig deeper and examine the evidence, which tells us Google's aim is to reduce the presence of "spam" results in the search engines.
Now you might think of spam as being sleazy pharma websites or dodgy insurance sales letters, but to the boffins at Google HQ (like Matt Cutts) spam sites are also those that have unnatural link profiles. Therefore, if you are using unnatural or questionable methods to build links to your site, then you are at risk of being penalized by Google. At some stage the algorithm will find your site, and you will probably be penalized

The Most Crucial SEO Factors

So what's the deal with Penguin 2.0? What factors are Google stressing as being important for SEO and affiliates? Let's take a brief look, and then drill-down on each concept to ensure that you have a complete understanding of what you need to do to fight back against Penguin 2.0 and Google algorithm updates.
Build a brand. According to Adam de Jong of Hubspot (and other top SEO commentators) branding is becoming a big factor for Google, especially after Penguin 2.0. If you want to rank well in Google and drive masses of organic search traffic, then you need to stop stressing so much about building loads of links, and instead focus on creating a solid brand. Branded websites are less likely to be seens as thin affiliate or spam sites, because brands tend to focus more on building a great holistic customer experience. When registering a domain name and building a website you need to think whether it would work well as a brand, and not just a keyword designed to generate search rankings.
Create quality content. As always, the importance of quality content remains absolutely paramount. All leading SEO experts will tell you that adding more content to your site is a good thing. If you're pressed for time, then you should even consider outsourcing your content creation. Read this Affilorama blog post I wrote last year for more information about why quality content is important for good SEO, and how to create it.
Have impeccable on-page SEO. Although you have probably come to fear "over optimization" and the potentially catastrophic consequences that it could have on your website and livelihood, you should strive for accurate and effective on-page SEO. This means ensuring that your tags and titles are all set up correctly, that you have anchor text optimized internal linking, and that you've got a rapid page load speed and no glaring site errors. Use AffiloTools to help you optimize your on-page SEO to deliver higher search rankings and more traffic.
Build effective links. Link building isn't "dead" (that is one of those statements that really hacks me off!) but it is changing. Gone are the days of focusing on link quantity over quality.  You need to be balancing your anchor text, and avoid rubbishy site wide links and other nasties that Google doesn't like any more. You should concentrate your efforts on building astoundingly high quality links that demonstrate your authority and presence in any given niche. In a minute I'll show you how to use the new AffiloTools Link Finder to help with post-Penguin link building.
Ramp up social media. By now you're probably sick of hearing about the importance of social media. However, the reason you keep hearing about it is because social media is becoming increasingly crucial for identifying and strengthening your online brand. Not only should you have a branded Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ account for all your affiliate sites, but you should also seek to increase the number of times your content is being shared on social networks. This means incorporating share buttons on to your site, and actively encouraging your visitors to share your content. If you have an image-intensive site, or produce things like infographics, then you should be sharing them on branded Pinterest and Tumblr channels as well.