Google has rolled out a new and improved update to the Panda algorithm: Panda version 4.0. After a week of hushed tones and speculation amongst SEOs, Google’s Matt Cutts announced the release on
Twitter.
Last times we talk about How to
Recovering from Google Penguin ,the
simple content marketing technique that will help you to get more
traffic to your website after the penguin update.So,This month.The launch of Panda 4.0 marks breaking news in the industry, and it
isn’t breaking alone; the Panda update is accompanied by Payday Loan 2.0
and a shocking change for eBay. What changes have been implemented and
what do they mean for you? Let’s take a look at what we know thus far.
Panda 4.0 and You
Algorithm updates are sure to give webmasters a headache as they
scramble to survey the damage (if any) and initiate damage control
countermeasures. Algorithm updates almost always mean a shift in search
engine rankings. According to Search Engine Land,
Google’s Panda algorithm is designed to prevent sites with poor quality content from working their way into Google’s top search results.
We’ve seen modest updates to the algorithm since its original
release, but the release of the 4.0 update appears to be more notable
than previous changes. According to Moz,
it’s “major… which probably means that it is both an algorithmic update
and a data refresh.” Moz goes on to point out that while Cutts’ tweet
announced a May 20th rollout date, it’s likely the update started
rolling out on May 19th since “most Panda updates over the past year
have been multi-date roll-outs.”
Over the next few days, we’ll learn more about just what has changed
in the world of SEO. But in the meantime, we’re hearing good news.
Therefore, if you’ve taken our repeated advice to keep your content high quality, fresh and engaging,
you’re likely to see SERP improvements as the full impact of 4.0 is
felt over the next few days. This is not to say that a negative impact
hasn’t been felt. We’ll get to that in just a minute.
Payday Loan 2.0 – Cracking Down On Spammy Queries
Speculation regarding an update to the Payday Loan algorithm has been circulating for a while.
Search Engine Land
reports that the original rollout of the algorithm specifically
targeted “very spammy queries.” An update was confirmed over the
weekend.
We documented the introduction of this algorithm last year in our “
Timeline History of Web Copywriting” infographic.
According to Search Engine Land’s article, “Google told us this
specific update is an international rollout and it affects different
languages to different degrees, but this impacts English queries by
about 0.2% to a noticeable degree.” In essence, the upgrade to Payday
Loan is cracking down even harder on spammy queries as Google flexes its
muscles and continues to weed out quality from spam.
eBay Experiences an Update Shockwave
Moz documented a noticeable change in eBay’s SERP ranking as they
dropped from #6 to #25 between May 19th and 20th – even before Matt
Cutts announced the Panda update. At this point, the reason behind the
drop is left to speculation (Moz’s report offers some viable
probabilities). One thing is certain: for whatever reason, eBay has
experienced some negative impact from the 4.0 implementation,
specifically to their category page rankings.
What Does It All Mean For You?
It’s too soon to tell. Currently, there is a great deal of
speculation surrounding these updates and their overall impact. If
you’ve been around for previous algorithm releases or updates, then you
know it’s time to batten down your hatches, weather the release storm
and assess the damage as it appears. Search Engine Watch is even
venturing the prediction that we are likely to see a Google Penguin
update in the near future as
Penguin 2.0
launched one year ago this week. Seeing how Google has released the
Panda 4.0 and Payday Loans updates so close together, this speculation
does not strike us as farfetched.
The good news is that for those who have focused on high quality,
well written content while keeping their audience firmly in focus, not
much appears to have changed. And with Google focusing so heavily on
quality content as a rank increaser, it doesn’t look like it’s going to
change anytime soon. If you’ve invested in high quality content, keep up
the good work – you’re on the right track. If not, it’s time to dig
into just what awesome, quality copy is and how to attain it.