So, what’s the problem?
Nothing, if you haven’t been massively over-zealous about how well optimised your website is. Being vigilant and up to date isn’t a problem, the issue Google is trying to fix relates to those link-fiends who have over-used their ‘white hat’ so much so, that is has turned a miserable shade of grey (In case you’re confused, I refer to this post).
Okay, so what is ‘over-opimisation’?
In a nutshell, it’s the act of doing everything that is possible to optimise your website, in a non-human and bot-like way.
Examples?
Sure, over optimisation can include (and will probably be identified by inclusion of ) any of the following:
- Scraped, copied web content
- Too many ads on the page & not enough original content and copy
- That fact that your website loads faster than the speed of light
- When all links that are inbound and have identical anchor text
- Infinite forum links
- Hidden text (in a colour that matches the background, so it can’t be seen)
- Sites linking to you that are dodgy or malicious in any way
This list is not exhaustive as there are many more examples of things Google might suspect & then penalize you for.
Below, I’ve included a helpful video from SEOMoz’s very own Rand Fishkin that does well to explain what changes should be made to save your site from dropping in the ranks and possibly fading into obscurity online after Google’s next update:
Parting words?
Good luck! 
Blogging regularly is important for many reasons. The most obvious being that if your want to retain a degree of professionalism (assuming your blog is not a personal one) then it looks better if you are continuously finding new and interesting things for your audience to read.
Honestly, how eager are you to get involved with a company or a business through its website, when you visit its blog and see that the ‘most recent’ entry has a date stamp of 6 months ago…?
Besides, there are some little gems you may be sacrificing if you neglect your company’s blog – such as:
Being fresh and innovative!
A blog post is an article that varies in length, can be about anything you want and is usually beneficial to the target audience it was written for. Through blogging, you can use it to encourage people, persuade them or simply to entertain them. Why lose out on something this beneficial? If you are a company or a business that has something you are trying to sell, your blog is the place to do this!
Being seen!
If you want to improve your chances of being visible in search engines (and you do) then well structured posts are essential. A great post can start to rank in search engines over time and could potentially bring in web traffic to your website. (For tips on how to write a great post you can read my earlier article titled ‘Successfully guest posting on A-list blogs’)
Being communicative & media savvy!
Simply because blogging and social media marketing must coexist when it comes to marketing a business, communication is essential.
Social communities, such as Twitter, Digg, and Facebook among others, can be used as a platform for your blog, and so being a consistent (but quality) blogger could create the opportunity for more traffic to find drive its way to your blog. Perhaps most importantly, through these social networks you could gather new business opportunities.
Being heard!
Blogging is a way to explain to your readers who you are as a company. Distancing yourself from the competition is what your brand and your website will attempt to do, but a blog can add that extra panache needed to make your business really stand out. Much like a chronicle, your blog can be how you document the goings on in your company – which will give allow it to develop a voice and a personality.
So blog & blog often!
We’re generally fairly publicity shy so it was a great fillip this week to learn that one our recent website builds – Yapp Wine Merchants was awarded “best new website” by Web User Magazine.
The pleasure was all the greater given that no PR effort had been made to get a write up.
“Wine merchant Yapp Brothers is celebrating its 40th year in the business with a suitably swish revamp of it’s online home. The fresh design combines a stylish layout with a pleasantly personal tone, and offers several useful new features. These include an ‘easy wine selector’, which makes selections based on the colour, style, grape and price of your choice, and a food-and-wine matching facility that tells you which tipple goes best with specific meals.
Yapp Brothers specialises in wines from the Rhone, Loire, and Provence regions, many of which you won’t find anywhere else, and sells a great deal more besides”
Not sure what we had to do to get 5 stars 
Quick links to the Yapp website
Food and wine matcher
Easy Wine Search
Its always nice when a client emails to tell you how things are going. I have removed the clients details to ensure their website visitor numbers remain confidential.
September site report summary
Bumper Month with record number of Site visits and Page views
Total business
During September 08 we had 141,000 visits to our 4 sites which is the largest ever in one month. It is also a 91% increase on September 07!
During September 08 we also had 430,000 page views which, again, was a record and was a 62% increase year on year.xxxxx.co.uk had 93,000 visits in September 08 – the biggest ever – beating the previous record of 77,000 which we got in July this year. Year on year we have doubled the number of people visiting the site.
Looking at page views we had 273,000, another record and 57% up on Sep 2007.
We also had 1,600 new registrations in the month which is the largest monthly figure, outside of a period where were spending money to generate new members.xxxxxx.co.uk had 44,000 visits in September 08 – the biggest ever – beating the previous record of 35,000 which we got in March this year. Year on year we have increased the number of people visiting the site by 91%.
Looking at page views we had 129,000, another record and 59% up on Sep 2007
We also had 1,390 new registrations in the month which is the largest monthly figure, outside of a period where were spending money to generate new members.
With this particular client one of the largest problems was the size of the sites, running into the tens of thousands of pages. Initially we concentrated on the site structure, making sure that the page optimisation was good as possible – ensuring each page had unique page titles and meta data, improving the page structure, URL formats and internal navigation.
Once we were happy that the site would rank as high as possible we concentrated on ensuring all of the pages were indexed and raising the overall profile of the site through an ongoing like development program. The client was very easy to work with during this entire process, taking information on-board and acting on our recommendations – of course now they’re benefitting from the results!
I am pleased to announce the arrival of Adam Miller. Adam will join our growing online marketing team. Adam was head and shoulders above other interviewees for this position. He showed passion for the subject area, an ability to communicate in clear english,  and he has a string of projects already under his belt that demonstrate his ability in promoting sites online. I am confident that our clients will be well looked after by him.