Google Panda 2.2 is right around the corner. In fact, it has probably been released by the time you read this article. The collateral damage to organic search traffic is surely tremendous and warrants a lot of work from a big percentage of online marketers. Here are some long-term strategies that can help you survive Google Panda 2.2 and other future Google updates:

Diversify Traffic
As a general rule of thumb, you shouldn’t have more than 40% of referred traffic from Google. This is because any higher will result to a negative effect on your bottom line. Keep in mind the time you will need for recovery from penalty even from the smallest mistakes. You need to diversify in order to be ready for any scenario. This means that you should also focus your effort on other search engines and not just Google. Also, you need to remember that first-time visitors from organic search results are almost impossible to convert. It will take at least several repeat visits. However, if you content is good enough, there is a bigger chance for them to convert.

Community Building
If you invest resources particularly time in building a community, this will in a way buffer the impact of search algorithm changes like Google Panda. Social media is becoming an important factor but it is still not official. The better option is to focus on loyal brand ambassadors such as bloggers. Communicate with your visitors and build your persona. Use careful research to determine the best online communities that you should engage with.

Eliminate Usability Problems
This is a time-tested rule that can significantly contribute to online marketing efforts. You should focus on factors that are within your control like usability problems. Focusing on factors that are uncontrollable is completely useless and will only cause stress. Most experts believe that this will become a stronger ranking signal this year. Minimize or if possible eliminate usability problems as soon as possible in order to possibly increase business impact quickly.

Create Quality Content
Yes, this still applies. Content is still one of the most important ranking factors today. This is something that will probably never change. Even the most drastic search engine algorithm changes will not change this rule. If you want to have good rankings, you really need to have quality content. At all cost, you need to avoid having copied content, typographical errors and such content quality issues.