When Google changes its algorithm, everybody who is in any way concerned with content, SEO and online marketing tends to suffer from more than a touch of anxiety. Will the changes undo all of your good work? Will you need to completely change your future strategies? With the latest version of the Google algorithm, Panda 4.0, recently unleashed on a nervously awaiting internet community, you may find yourself wondering why Google put us through this torture. In actual fact, this is a good question, because understanding why Google change their algorithms and what they hope to achieve with Panda 4.0 is the key to understanding why it can help, rather than hinder, someone with a good content marketing approach.
Google Upgrades Its Algorithms to Make Us Love Them – True Story
Think about how Google make their money. Everything they offer to the general user is free. Chrome? A free browser, and one of the best browsers out there. Android? A free mobile operating system, the most widely used in the world. Google Drive? Free office software and a great collaborative tool. Gmail? Free email with more space than anybody could ever use. They offer high quality software and services and at no cost. But why?
Well, because Google’s revenue doesn’t come from its users like a conventional software company like Microsoft. Its revenue comes from people who want access to those users. Users, then, rather than software, are Google’s commodity, so it wants as many of them as it can get to remain the most attractive proposition to advertisers. And whether you use things like Gmail and Chrome or not, almost everybody in the world uses their search engine.
Google is not the only search engine in the world, but it became the byword for internet searching because, quite simply, it was the best. Now it has to remain the best because while you may not bother to switch from Gmail to a new email address because you found say, Yahoo slightly better, starting to use Bing for all your searches would take no effort at all. Put simply then, Google has to keep upgrading its search engine to ensure it keeps giving users the best results to their searches, so it keeps its market share.
What Does This Mean in Terms of Panda 4.0?
The way in which Google wants to keep the love of its users is by giving them the most interesting content in relation to their searches. Directing them to poor quality, self serving promotional content rather than the information they want will frustrate them, so with each new algorithm Google tries to weed out more and more of the bad stuff and reward the good, original content with higher search rankings. Panda 4.0 is the latest evolutionary step toward this.
Original Content, More Than Ever, Will Prevail
Panda 4.0 can be seen as a very good thing for those who base their content marketing strategies on providing really good content that establishes their authority, adds value to their readers, and is interesting and sharable. Given that that should really be your goal with any kind of content you put out on the web, this means it will benefit credible businesses and writers.
If you are looking for fresh, original content that Panda 4.0 will love, get in touch with us today!
