Practical Tips for Dealing with Google’s Latest Panda Update
Did the Panda Update Affect your Website?
Google is the King of the Hill when it comes to driving business through organic search. With more than eighty percent of the market, Google has the power to make or break businesses. Furthermore, when they announce a technology change, everyone in the know scrambles around to make sure they are in compliance with Google’s guidelines.
Recently Google announced its latest technology update geared at reducing spam in the search engines, and the change was a hefty one. According to Google engineer Matt Cutts, the update affected around twelve percent of search results. Whether or not you were affected, don’t fret. We’ve included some practical tips below to help keep you in Google’s good graces.
What is the Panda Update?
In late February Google pushed out its Panda (Farmer) update to the US market. The algorithm update was developed to devalue or remove low quality or shallow content from its index. Sites that have been dubbed “content farms” were on the chopping block. Also, sites that publish low-quality content were targeted. This change in the algorithm affected 12% of online searches.
The Panda update was a constructive change for internet searchers, website owners and search engine optimizers alike. It focused on devaluing sites that appeared to be publishing low quality content. Some in the search community believe the update also punished frowned upon link building practices. Unfortunately, there was collateral damage and innocents got caught up in the cross fire, but, for the most part, the feedback, according to Matt Cutts, was positive.
Some people have been wondering why the change was made and why it was made now. It all stems back to protests that have been mounting about Google and the current state of its search results. Many in the online community have complained that the results in Google’s search engine have been continually declining. Unprincipled search marketers have been clogging the search results for several years now. As a result, many demanded that the loop holes that had been exploited by these deceitful practitioners needed to be closed. The chatter about this issue was ratcheting up and Google responded with the Panda update.
According to Matt Cutts, this “purely” algorithmic change has been percolating since early 2010. He said Google was well aware of what was happening in the chambers of their engine and they were working diligently to devise a solution. Then, in late February 2011, they felt the algorithm update was ready for prime time, and, on the 23rd of February, Google pushed the Panda update to the American market. The day after the change, Google posted to their blog that a significant change was made to the algorithm and approximately 12% of sites would be affected.
The feedback on the change has been mostly positive. Most people report a better searching experience and noticeably higher quality results in Google. For the most part, many websites have not been affected. In some cases, websites owners have reported getting a boost in the SERPs. Conversely, there have been a significant number of reports on websites that have lost the farm with this update. We are aware of some instances where websites have lost 50% to 70% of their revenue as a result of their demotion in Google. It has definitely hit some companies hard, and the smaller businesses affected will bear the brunt of the blow. According to the Online Publishers Association, an estimated one billion dollars in revenue will be redistributed as a result of this change. This is likely the reason why this change has reverberated across many segments of society.
However, there is hope. Along with his statement regarding the positive feedback from the change, Matt Cutts acknowledged that the algorithm does not work perfectly and there are still some tweaks to be made in the coming months. So, stay tuned. If your site was one of the sites that got slapped down, there may be a day of redemption. Of course, that is assuming you’ve been engaged in above the board marketing practices.
What to Do Now!
Many website owners are asking what they should do if they’ve been affected negatively by the update. The good news is that there are a lot of productive conversations going on in the online marketing community about the next phase of marketing in Google. Also, Pubcon and SXSW Interactive (popular marketing conferences) took place after the algorithm update, and there was a lot of useful information that came out of those conferences.
Here are a few things you should do if your site has been impacted negatively by the update. (Actually, every site owner should consider implementing these suggestions and look at them as the new “best practices” for winning at the Google game):
- Remove Low Quality Content from Your Website: If you have low quality content on your website, you should either work on improving the quality of those pages or remove them from your server altogether. Each situation will require a different action, but you want to make sure to be more conscious about the content that you’re publishing. Content is important, and it’s the sole reason people use search engines in the first place. Searchers are looking for quality content to help them solve a problem. According to Matt Cutts, the algorithm will love your site if you follow this rule: “Don’t chase the algorithm. Try to make sites users love.” You will be rewarded accordingly.
- Block Undeveloped Content from the Search Engines: Maile Ohye, another influential voice hailing from Google, offered some useful information to website owners as they move forward. Maile recommended using the meta robots tag <meta name=robots content=noindex> to block pages from the index until they have higher quality content on them. This solution is used in cases where you have a review site that is pulling in content through a review or rating system. For example, you may have a comparison site that rates businesses or products online. You use reviews or ratings to populate your pages. Some of those pages may contain business or product listings only, with no reviews to support the content on the page. In this case, you can use the meta robots tag to block that content from the search engines until the pages have more substance.
- Manage Your Ad to Content Ratio: If your pages have an overabundance of ads and a scarcity of content, then you are in danger of being demoted. Make sure the search engines do not have trouble locating your content amongst a sea of ads. Advertising itself does not devalue your pages, but, if the ratio of advertising to content is tilted in the wrong direction, it can cause problems.
These are just a few things you can look at to get back into Google’s good graces. Before you implement any of the suggestions above, you should first look to your Google Analytics and Webmaster tools for guidance. Try to isolate what section of your site was impacted most. Understand that the algorithm change seeks to flush out what it considers to be poor quality content. It also seeks to provide a quality experience for its searchers.
Furthermore, if assessing and implementing the recommended changes above are beyond your expertise, it is recommended that you have your site audited by an SEO firm. 360Partners offers proven and affordable solutions for all your SEO challenges. We provide expert online marketing services with a focus on long term sustainability in the search engines. Contact us at SearchMarketing@360Partners.com for an audit to put your website on track for long term success.
About the author: Sidney Nicholas is the lead SEO Specialist for 360 Partners. He has been actively running SEO campaigns since 2006. His marketing beliefs center around developing strategies that provide long term value to site owners and search engines.
