But times change as Googles algorithm updates happen. The Panda and Penguin update for us is where we were hit and we watched the traffic and rankings move from first page to the 2nd , 3rd, 4th and sometimes even more. As mentioned in a previous blog, we found this new focus to be a blessing because we woke up to the fact that we were not creating content for the machine but begin to think of content more toward the reader. Considering how to write for a machine is clearly was not effective. We were thrilled for that realization and we begin to make shifts to write in order to solve problems that our clients were facing without focusing in on keyword strategies.
That works moving forward but how about the past? Do we just leave the past alone and hope that are new approach gets recognition from our audience? Yes, but there still is a search engine involved and it is still a machine. Therefore we decided to revisit the work we had done from the past and look at those techniques. We decided to focus in on one keyword and make changes around where that one keyword was showing up. The following is what we did:
1.Improved a recent (past year) blog with a tag "helen ga cabin rentals" to become the new post that relates to that particular keyword. We call this our “stellar blog”. This stellar blog would become the blog for consistent internal linking from other blogs where that keyword was utilized.
2. We improved this blog to read better, use fewer tags (max. of 3), contain an effective and relevant CTA - Free Ebook: Most Comprehensive Helen Ga Guide Ever, contain the keyword in the title: http://cedarcreekcabinrentals.com/georgia-cabin-rentals-blog/bid/95069/Seek-Exceptional-Quality-And-Value-In-Luxury-Helen-GA-Cabin-Rentals
We also used bold keyword within first 2 paragraphs of blog content and used the image #1 to have the same file name
and alt text with the keyword.
and alt text with the keyword.Next, we attacked each and every blog that contained the keyword. We cleaned them up to be more natural and more powerful by:
- reducing tags & keywords to max. of 3, one of them being "helen ga cabin rentals" of course.
- made keyword more natural sounding in context of body of content.
- unlinked old-style anchor text link which was only the pure keyword " helen ga cabin rentals" and created new hyperlink to stellar blog using longer tail keyword phrase where they anchor text became more natural sounding: ex. "where to search when looking for helen ga luxury cabin rentals."
- added newer, more relevant CTA's ensured blog content was still relevant or adjusted it
We have been blow away with the results. We are certain about our work because we only focused on one keyword and ALL of the other keywords were not effected. So the rising tide did not lift all keywords.
