If your website has been hit by the Penguin or Panda algorithm update, then you have probably lost a lot of traffic. The good news is that it is possible to recover from algorithmic penalties. If you keep publishing high quality content, disavow any low quality links and clean up your website then you will start to see your traffic return. However, recovering can be a slow process, and most webmasters simply can’t afford to sit and wait for Google to like them again.
One good option for webmasters that are struggling to bring traffic to their sites is social media. If you already have some customers, then using email marketing and social media to promote the content that you post will ensure that your existing user base will see your content and will also help you to recover more quickly.
Social media marketing best practice is often SEO best practice too. No matter what Panda’s filter thinks of your site in general, good content is good content, and while a site that is penalized under Panda might be harder to find in the SERPs, if your content really is good then it will get shared and promoted by your users, and this will get you incoming links and social media mentions that could help you to recover in the eyes of Google.
Fake It Until You Make It
The phrase “fake it until you make it” may be a cliche but it is something that has a lot of truth to it when it comes to SEO. You can’t wait for visitors to come to you – especially if you’re suffering because of a Panda or Penguin penalty. You need to find an audience that is interested in your content, and use that audience – however small it may be – to grow your reach until you can get some organic traffic coming in.
It’s up to you whether that audience comes from your existing social media pages, or from paid advertising. If your traffic is poor at the moment then paid advertising could be the best option for you. Facebook’s targeting options, for example, are so powerful that they offer a laser-targeted traffic source – one that should offer huge engagement rates. If you promote the right kind of traffic on Facebook, you should find that the benefits last for far longer than the individual ad campaign.