What should a site owner do if they think they might be affected by Panda?

How will webmaster come to know whether website is hit by Panda?

And, if  site is already hit, how to recover from Panda?

Answer: You need to read UNDERSTAND and implement Google Webmaster Guideline not when site hit but before and after that happens.

Implementation is a key.

Improve site contents on regular basis if possible.

Understanding Google Webmaster Guideline correctly – Success Factors for Implementation.

Answer from Matt Cutts ‎ Google Software Engineer:

Published on Sep 11, 2013

Reprinted with sole purpose to remind webmasters and website owners to read Google Webmaster Guideline.

Do not pay for SEO all info you every need Google provide.

But if you do not have time to read and follow simple and common scene instructions do not blame Google if your site is our of first page on Google Organic Search results
Some website owner looking for one single reason site was “hit” by algorithm update… ;-(

What counts as a high-quality site?

Our site quality algorithms are aimed at helping people find “high-quality” sites by reducing the rankings of low-quality content. The recent “Panda” change tackles the difficult task of algorithmically assessing website quality. Taking a step back, we wanted to explain some of the ideas and research that drive the development of our algorithms.

Below are some questions that one could use to access the “quality” of a page or an article. These are the kinds of questions we ask ourselves as we write algorithms that attempt to assess site quality. Think of it as our take at encoding what we think our users want.

Of course, we aren’t disclosing the actual ranking signals used in our algorithms because we don’t want folks to game our search results; but if you want to step into Google’s mindset, the questions below provide some guidance on how we’ve been looking at the issue:

• Would you trust the information presented in this article?
• Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
• Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
• Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
• Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
• Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
• Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
• Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
• How much quality control is done on content?
• Does the article describe both sides of a story?
• Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
• Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
• Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
• For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
• Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
• Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
• Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
• Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
• Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
• Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
• Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
• Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?
• Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

Writing an algorithm to assess page or site quality is a much harder task, but we hope the questions above give some insight into how we try to write algorithms that distinguish higher-quality sites from lower-quality sites.

What you can do

We’ve been hearing from many of you that you want more guidance on what you can do to improve your rankings on Google, particularly if you think you’ve been impacted by the Panda update. We encourage you to keep questions like the ones above in mind as you focus on developing high-quality content rather than trying to optimize for any particular Google algorithm.

One other specific piece of guidance we’ve offered is that low-quality content on some parts of a website can impact the whole site’s rankings, and thus removing low quality pages, merging or improving the content of individual shallow pages into more useful pages, or moving low quality pages to a different domain could eventually help the rankings of your higher-quality content.

We’re continuing to work on additional algorithmic iterations to help webmasters operating high-quality sites get more traffic from search. As you continue to improve your sites, rather than focusing on one particular algorithmic tweak, we encourage you to ask yourself the same sorts of questions we ask when looking at the big picture. This way your site will be more likely to rank well for the long-term. In the meantime, if you have feedback, please tell us through our Webmaster Forum. We continue to monitor threads on the forum and pass site info on to the search quality team as we work on future iterations of our ranking algorithms.

Written by Amit Singhal, Google Fellow

Some ideas on how to evaluate the quality of a site:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspo…

Have a question? Ask it in our Webmaster Help Forum: http://groups.google.com/a/googleprod…

Want your question to be answered on a video like this? Follow us on Twitter and look for an announcement when we take new questions: http://twitter.com/googlewmc

More videos: http://www.youtube.com/GoogleWebmaste…
Webmaster Central Blog: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspo…
Webmaster Central: http://www.google.com/webmasters/

Joint Ventures

A joint venture (JV) is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity.

By Alla Gul (MBA) – Our Contributor

A joint venture (JV) is a legal organization that takes the form of a partnership in which individuals, groups of individuals, companies, or corporations jointly undertake a transaction for mutual profit (“Joint Venture”, n.d.).

The parties agree to create a new entity by contributing equity.

Then they share in the revenues, expenses, and control of the enterprise. This paper discusses why joint ventures may be formed and what benefits may be expected when domestic and foreign companies form a venture. Then resent joint venture example is briefly illustrated.

The partnership can happen between big companies in an industry to differentiate, for example. The joint venture can occur between two small businesses that partner in order to successfully fight their bigger competitors. In addition, companies with identical products and services can also join forces “to penetrate markets they wouldn’t or couldn’t consider without investing tremendous resources” (“Joint Venturing”, n.d., p. 2). Next, a large company can decide to form a joint venture with a smaller business “in order to quickly acquire critical intellectual property, technology, or resources otherwise hard to obtain, even with plenty of cash at their disposal” (“Joint Venturing”, n.d., p. 2). To add, “There are good business and accounting reasons to create a joint venture with a company that has complementary capabilities and resources, such as distribution channels, technology, or finance” (“Joint Ventures (VS)”,  n.d.). Below are some major reasons for forming a joint venture:

Internal reasons

1.         Build on company’s strengths

2.         Spreading costs and risks

3.         Improving access to financial resources

4.         Economies of scale and advantages of size

5.         Access to new technologies and customers

6.         Access to innovative managerial practices

Competitive goals

1.         Influencing structural evolution of the industry

2.         Pre-empting competition

3.         Defensive response to blurring industry boundaries

4.         Creation of stronger competitive units

5.         Speed to market

6.         Improved agility

Strategic goals

1.         Synergies

2.         Transfer of technology/skills

3.         Diversification

(“Joint Venture”, n.d.). 

Joint ventures between companies headquartered in different countries can be particularly beneficial. First, companies may use joint ventures to gain entrance into foreign markets. For example, foreign companies form joint ventures with domestic companies that already are present in markets the foreign companies would like to enter.  Moreover, due to local regulations, some markets can only be accessed via joint venturing with a local business (“Joint Venturing”, 101, n.d., p.2). For example, China and to some extent India, require foreign companies to form joint ventures with domestic firms in order to enter a market (“Joint Venture”, n.d). Next, the foreign companies “generally bring new technologies and business practices into the joint venture, while the domestic companies already have the relationships and requisite governmental documents within the country along with being entrenched in the domestic industry”( “Joint venture”, n.d.). For example, joint ventures are common in the oil and gas industry, and are often formed between a local and foreign company. “A joint venture is often seen as a very viable business alternative in this sector, as the companies can complement their skill sets while it offers the foreign company a geographic presence” (“Joint Venture”, n.d.).

Recently the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and CAE, Canada signed an agreement to establish a joint venture company that will open a helicopter simulator training center in Bangalore, India.

The company, Helicopter Academy To Train By Simulation Of Flying (HATSOFF), will be owned equally by HAL and CAE. The training center is expected to begin operations in late 2008 by providing both civil and military helicopter pilot and maintenance training services. (“HAL”, 2007)

Questions to Answer Before You Approach a New Joint Venture Partner.
Click to read more…

CAE is a world leader in providing simulation and modeling technologies and integrated training solutions for the civil aviation industry and defense forces around the globe (“About CAE”, n.d.). The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is in the list of top 100 defense companies in the world (“HAL 34^th”, n.d.). Among its products are helicopters, aircrafts, advances communication and navigation equipment, and aerospace equipment (“Our Products”, n.d.). By forming the joint venture, the CAE is trying to extend its business-jet training network, to expend its distribution channels, to increase sales of its stimulators, and to capture and extend into India’s growing market (“Remarks for”, 2007,  p.3).  For the Indian partner, this joint venture provides the opportunity to differentiate, to acquire new skills and technology and to extend its marketing reach. Finally, both companies are expected to benefit from a development of a new market and from growth in revenues and profits.

To conclude, a joint venture is a strategic alliance where two or more parties form a partnership to share markets, intellectual property, assets, knowledge, and,  profits. (“Joint Venturing”, n.d., p.1).  The partnership may be formed between domestic companies or between domestic and foreign partners. When carefully planned and successfully implemented, joint ventures bring multiple benefits to parties involved

 By Alla Gul (MBA) – Our Contributor

References

About CAE. CAE Inc. Retrieved September 26, 2007 from

 http://www.cae.com/www2004/About_CAE/index.shtml

HAL, Canada’s CAE ink joint venture for helicopter simulator training center. (2007).

Yahoo Business News. Retrieved September 26, 2007 from  http://in.news.yahoo.com/070926/139/6l8gn.html

HAL 34th among top 100 defense firms. Hindustan Aeronautic Limited. Retrieved

 September 26, 2007 from http://www.hal-india.com/34th.asp

Joint ventures. Cornell University Law School.  Retrieved September 26, 2007 from

 http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Joint_venture

Joint venture. Wikipedia. Retrieved September 24, 2007 from

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_venture

Joint ventures (JVs). E-coach: Sharing Capital, Technology, Human Resources, Risks

 and Rewards. Retrieved September 26, 2007 from

 http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/jv_main.html

Our products. Hindustan Aeronautic Limited. Retrieved September 26, 2007 from

 http://www.hal-india.com/products.asp

Remarks for first quarter fiscal year 2008 results. (2007). CAE. Retrieved September 26,

 2007 from

http://www.cae.com/www2004/Investor_Relations/PDF/2008/CAE_FY08Q1_Remarks-en.pdf

Scott Allen. Joint venturing 101. About.com- Entrepreneurs. Retrieved September 26,

 2007 from http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/beyondstartup/a/jointventures.htm

Advice on Online Safety Issues

Safer Internet Day – Family safe online tips and resources.

Family Safe Online Summary in Numbers:

How to Keep Your Family Safe Online?

• 70% of parents talk to their children about online safety at least 2-3 times a year; 45% talk to their children least once a month.
• 74% of parents are connected to their children’s profiles on social networking sites.
• 71% of parents have taken at least one action to manage their children’s use of the Internet or cell phones. Parents are checking to see where children are searching online, setting time limits, setting parental controls on video sites, and using filters to limit where their children go on the Web.

Kudos to dads:
• 71% of dads (compared to 63% of moms) say they are taking at least one action to help manage their children’s online behavior, including having conversations about respecting the privacy of others and checking their children’s privacy settings.
• Fathers more often check to see what personal information can be easily found about their children by searching their names online.
• 53% of dads surveyed told us they plug their children’s names into a search engine at least 2-3 times per year (compared to 38% of moms), and 33% of dads told us they search at least once a month.

Parents at Google (Eric Schmidt, Vic Gundotra, Jacquelline Fuller, Alan Eustace and Jeff Huber) from Mountain View, California talking about their approach to helping keep their children safe online:

Video tips from Google parents

Watch videos of some of our parents at Google talking about how they manage their children’s safety online and read safety tips from Google.

General suggestions for how to help keep your family safe online (from Google.org).

1. Keep computers in a central place. This will make it easier to keep an eye on your children’s activities.
2. Know where your children go online. If you have young children, you might use the Internet with them. For older children you could talk about what kinds of sites they like to visit and what isn’t appropriate for your family. You can also check where your kids have been by looking at the history in your browser menu. Another option is to use filtering tools like Google SafeSearch.
3. Teach Internet safety.It’s impossible to monitor your child’s online activity all the time. As they get older, they need to know how to use the Internet safely and responsibly when they’re on their own.
   • Use privacy settings and sharing controls. Many sites that feature user-generated content, including YouTube, Blogger and social networking sites, have sharing controls that put users in charge of who sees personal blogs, photos, videos, and profiles. Using sharing controls is particularly important when you or your children share personal information such as names, addresses, or phone numbers, on public sites. Teach your children to respect the privacy of friends and family by not identifying people by name in public profiles and pictures.

Read more here: Watch videos from Google parents

Steps to help protect your children’s privacy and safety when they’re using the computer.

Decide where your child can and can’t go on the Internet

It’s a good idea to visit some sites for kids. Pay particular attention when sites collect personal information.

Read the privacy statement and, if you don’t agree with it, search a little, to find a similar site that doesn’t request personal information.

Block inappropriate content

One of the best defenses against inappropriate content is to block it before you see it. With Microsoft software there are a few different ways you can do this.

Windows Live Family Safety. This software helps you filter information based on each child’s age. You can also limit searches, block or allow certain websites, and monitor what your kids do online.

Xbox parental controls. Xbox includes parental controls that help you restrict your child’s ability to play inappropriate games and watch inappropriate DVD movies.

Increase your security and privacy

In addition to blocking inappropriate content, it’s a good idea to block sites and downloads that might be a risk to your security and privacy.

Steering Clear of Cyber Tricks:

Set limits on downloads. Free games, free music, animated toolbars, and other downloads can expose your computer to spyware or other unwanted software. Depending on the ages of your children, you can teach them not to download software from unknown sources on the Internet or ask your permission before they download anything. This can help to keep unwanted software off of your computer.

A child might accidentally infect your computer with spyware or other unwanted software. Some popular sites for kids might try to download programs without permission. To avoid this, monitor where your kids go online. For more information, see Step 3.
Use antivirus and antispyware software like Microsoft Security Essentials. Microsoft Security Essentials helps you detect, disable, or remove viruses, spyware and other potentially unwanted software.

Create different user accounts. Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP allow you to create multiple user accounts for your computer. Each user logs on with a unique profile and his or her own Desktop and My Documents folder. You can give yourself an Administrator account and give your children Limited User accounts. Administrator accounts have full control over the computer. Limited Users cannot change system settings or install new hardware or software, including most games, media players, and chat programs.

Adjust web browser security settings. You can help protect your child through your web browser. Internet Explorer helps you control your security and privacy preferences by allowing you to assign security levels to websites.

Tips for parents and children on how to stay safe online:

Monitor where your kids go online

It might not be possible to be present whenever your children are online. But it is possible to check later to see where your children have spent their time online.
By reviewing the History list in Internet Explorer, you can see all the places your children visited online. To view your Internet History, click the History button on the browser toolbar.
Remind kids not to talk to strangers online
Real-time chats, social networking, and instant messaging can be a great way for children to discuss their interests and build friendships. But the anonymity of the Internet can also put children at risk of falling victim to imposters and predators. To help minimize your children’s vulnerability, teach them to take precautions such as:

Use only a first name or nickname to identify themselves.
Never disclose a phone number or address.
Never send photographs of themselves.
Never agree to meet someone they met online without supervision.

To help protect your children from being contacted by strangers while instant messaging, configure your software to allow only approved contacts.

Resources:

http://www.techsavvymama.com/2010/06/internet-safety-resources-for-parents.html

http://www.google.com/familysafety/advice.html

ttp://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/smart-ways-to-keep-your-family-safe-online-1961738.html

Related articles

• Online Safety: Basics for Parents (webroot.com)
• A Parent’s Guide to Online Safety (webroot.com)