Google changes its algorithm several times every year. Some of the updates are minor and unnoticeable, but these updates change the way websites get displayed on the search engine results page. Earlier, Google launched Panda update which filtered out websites with thin and low-quality content.
This update works as the major quality control check that strips out the poor quality websites and enables higher quality websites to rise to the top.
About Google Panda
Google’s “Panda update” was introduced in 2011. This update is considered as the most important Google algorithm update that affects the rankings of websites. The reason for the launch of this update was to bring improvement to search results by filtering out substandard sites. The Panda update is now considered the core Google search algorithm.
This update is majorly focused on the site content and works as a quality filter for websites. If there is a website of lesser quality content then it gets filtered out and devalued. This assessment may not take place on the website but on a URL basis.
With the entry of the Panda update, the quality of the SERP has significantly improved. The implementation of the algorithm provides a better user experience on the Google search engine. This makes the searching process for the users even more attractive.
The Panda update has received many refreshes and with the integration into the central algorithm, the effects are stronger.
For SEOs, this creates a continuous optimization process, which defines quality as one of the primary goals.
Why Google Panda Update Is Essential?
As compared to previous algorithm updates, the Panda update has made a major effect on the rankings of entire website areas. Whereas, the earlier updates have only made changes on individual pages. According to Google, the influence of the Panda update brought a major change in search queries. Panda update has provided approx. 12% of changes for all English-language queries and 8- 9% on other languages. The Panda update had made a noticeable effect on an enormous number of websites.
With Panda, Google has got a better way to design its algorithm so that websites with high-quality content get rewarded. If there are websites with pages of inferior or useless content then they may get penalized. In this way, the majority of users are working on making informative content. If the pages did not represent any added value for the user, they are ready to get hit by the Panda Update.
What Triggers The Panda Algorithm?
Google Panda has been developed to decrease the low-quality websites appearing in SERPs. However, there are several other things that can trigger Google Panda:
• Duplicate content: The content that is copied from other pages on the internet. This also includes the content that appears on multiple pages of your own website with little text variation.
• Low-quality content: Content lacking in information. It is also the case where the content provides little to no value to readers.
• Machine-generated content: The content used on the pages that are automatically generated by a computer process or other non-human sources.
• Lack of authority: Content coming from unverified sources.
• Short content: Content that is too short that fails the user to understand the real meaning.
• Poor spelling: Website content with too many noticeable errors in spelling or grammar.
• Using too many topics in a single domain: If the website lacks focus on relevant topics and covers multiple topics.
• Broken pages: Multiple 404 errors or redirects on the page.
• Keyword stuffing: Addition of too many keywords in an attempt to manipulate rankings.
• Too many ads: If the number of paid advertisements are more, then this detracts from the user’s experience
Mentioned above are the major things that can make you hit with a Google Panda update penalty. When you are working on your website, you need to make sure that you produce content that is best. This ensures that the Panda filter will not threaten your site in the future.
Are You Affected by Panda Update?
The most common warning sign includes a sudden drop in traffic. If this happens during an algorithm update, you likely suffered a Panda-related penalty.
Another way it can hit is by checking the overall quality of your site. For this, it is really important to focus on what you’re producing, and are there any bounce rates seen?
If your website is seeing less organic traffic then you have been affected. This is because the Panda majorly affects the web pages while they are crawled and updated. If you also notice a drop across all of your keywords, then there are chances that you were hit by Panda. For this, if you’re not taking any precautions while creating content, website traffic will keep on dropping.
With this, it is also important to check whether your links are difficult to navigate. Also, get the quality check for links, and if you are lacking in it too then there are chances of the penalty on your website.
Some Essential Google Panda Recovery Tips
If you got hit by the Google Panda penalty, it’s not the end of the world. You can still work and get back your search rankings. In fact, by following the best practices you can improve your search traffic by implementing a few strategies on your blogs and websites.
Here are some major remedial actions you need to take:
• Ensure relevancy: You have to work on your pages and need to make them relevant for the user’s search query. Focus on structuring your data so that site visitors can get what they’re looking for.
• Get rid of duplicate content: If you’ve got similar content on multiple pages on your site, you can either eliminate that content or revise it. In this process, the users should get the information that they need without deleting the entire page.
• Website content: There is one huge problem for site owners if their writers aren’t providing original content. If you have writers then make sure they aren’t stealing and pasting the content from elsewhere online.
Panda is considered as a major update from Google and given steps for recovery generally help the website to work on improving the quality. If the websites consistently publish high-quality and original content then there should be no fear from this update. But if the website has engaged in problematic practices then the website is likely to get hit by Panda.
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