Is The Google Panda Update Fair?
In 2011 Google rolled out one of the biggest updates to its search engine, the Google Panda update, also referred to as the Farmer Update. The first tranche of the update was in February 2011 and affected all English language sites in America. The second tranche of the update was in April 2011 and affected all other English language sites.
There is a lot of conflicting opinion on whether this update was good or not. Many webmasters and blog owners feel that it was unfair as they lost a lot of traffic. Google say that users have reported improvements in search results, although a majority of Google users are totally unaware that any change took place.
The Google Panda update provides a new layer to the Google search algorithm. Prior to Panda, Google ranked web pages using its PageRank algorithm. It still does this, however, now there is a second layer to ranking. Panda ranks provides a quality check for an entire website. So a website with some very good pages which are well linked to may have received a lot of targeted traffic prior to Google Panda. However, if there is some low quality content on the site then these pages are reduced in ranking. Basically, Google now ranks websites and not just web pages.
The result is that many bloggers and website owners have seen large drops in Google traffic since the Panda updates. These site owners are often very critical of Google because of this. However, really they need to take a closer look at their business model and their websites and ask themselves, why doesn’t Google like my site anymore?
As far as Google users are concerned there are still 10 organic search results on the first page of Google when they type a search in. There is still a lot of content on the Internet to provide readers with all the answers they need.
For those that are highly critical of the Google Panda update they really need to to examine their website in great detail to improve overall site quality. This does not just mean quality of written content but also the quality of the site design, architecture, navigation and usability.
It is also painful to hear, but if a website has lost much of its business as a result of a single change by a single search engine, then their business model was broken. No business should ever rely solely on a single source of new clients. It is vital for any business to spread its risk by widening its marketing net. Google even suggests doing this themselves. Matt Cutts has said that webmasters really should look to social media and other sites for generating more business leads (traffic).
Facebook, Twitter, forums and blogs all provide opportunities for generating new business. Some of the most successful web marketeers were only receiving 25% of their traffic from Google before Panda, and these guys have well optimised websites.
The Internet is much bigger than just Google and to rely on Google for all your business is a marketing disaster waiting to happen. If you survived Google Panda in tact do not rest on your laurels. The next Google update could see your website plummet in the search index. Running a profitable website is really no different from running any other business. Make sure that you are ready to survive the crash by diversifying your marketing model.
For an example of a website that improved after the Google Panda update take a look at Shareholders Portal. The site is relatively new and does not have many links from other sites, i.e. it is the type of site which before Panda was lost in the search pages. However, since the Google update traffic has more than doubled. This is a sure sign that quality sites are being given more exposure in Google search.
Latest posts by DST Contributor (see all)
- Survival Guide to Multilingual SEO - May 14, 2013
- Five Killer Link Bait Tips That Can Provide You With ‘Passive Marketing’ - May 11, 2013
- 5 US SEO Events to Visit to Spend a One Month Vacation with Purpose - May 9, 2013
18 Responses to “Is The Google Panda Update Fair?”
Newsletter
Join the Contest!
Tags
Our Projects
I think its great that sites like Shareholders Portal moves up in the ranking. As a googler I like to se sites offering unke info rank god. But I think there still is some work to be done. I stll find som feeder sites ranking good. But I am sure there have been some good websites that have lost ranking because of poor pages they have forgotten to noindex. WordPress often make pages low on content without the webmaster knows of the pages. This can be tag, category or author sites.. If Google dont find out that this is pages made from the CMS, there can be some unfair rank loss..
I think it’s incredibly fair. Panda’s dramatically increased focus on social media makes rankings a little more democratic and forces webhosts and SEO’s to think more creatively to market and promote their site. This is better for everyone; hosts and consumers.
The panda update did not have anything to do with social media as far as I know. Social signals as ranking factor was a statement from Matt C. I think
Love the Panda Update…..It killed all the websites who spam the heck out of the WORLD with their spun article marketing.
If you built a nice diverse link portfolio then your website was fine.
If you wrote great content and didn’t scrap or steal then your website was fine.
I am enjoying increased rankings and Ad Revenue!
I find it pretty funny that you use the idea of fairness in your question.
There’s no such thing as fair. There’s ETHICAL, and certainly pieces of what Google did with Panda raise questions in that regard. But FAIR?
Puuhleeze
Jeff Yablon
President & CEO
Answer Guy and Virtual VIP Computer Support, Business Change Coaching and SEO Consulting/Search Engine Optimization Services
Its all fairly simple when you think about…look at your site, look at your pages and ask yourself (honestly)…does your site/page deserve to rank…
google is trying to sort those pages and sites that don’t offer real value or user experience…its time to try harder folks…all panda has done is push lazy webmasters and seos and content writers and business owners into creating valuable experiences when you visit their site…
correct me if im wrong…but thats good, right?
Im glad google made changes because the search engine was starting to become filled with junk
The Panda update penalizes those sites that exist simply to attract visitors and make money via click through. They do not in themselves offer any added value to the Internet.
I have hear it argued that Google is being somewhat hypocritical given that it in itself is simply a large directory which makes money from advertisements. It’s easy to slate Google but we all know that Panda is a good step as it gives more Authority to those sites that that do genuinely add value to the Internet and penalizes those that don’t.
It raises the bar for SEO consultants who now realize that they have to do more to earn their keep.
I think the panda update was a good change. Whether or not it was fair will of course depend on who you ask. I certainly see why google is moving in the direction that it is moving and I for one think that this is a good change.
I would always get annoyed when I would see spammy websites that provided no value, had spun content and didn’t even make sense ranking in the serps.
There is so much junk on the internet, that it was inevitable that google and the other search engines were going to need to find a way to filter that out.
It is nice not to see ezines, and other article sites that were 95% spam content ranking on the first pages of search anymore. If people want to get their content read, they need to start focusing more on the end user and not just on search engines.
You are right, the Panda update was a very big change for the seo, in particular for english Google version (we don’t know how it will be for other languages).. But that’s not finished, Google prevents for others updates coming more restrictive than Panda, so wait and see….
I have heard a lot of issues about this Google Panda update…Some are good and others are worse…It is a big change for the SEO…
I would love to know what adds value in Google’s eyes. I redesigned my PC support website & took all the affiliate feed generated product pages off, leaving only relevant, useful content for clients after computer support. However, despite still ranking well after Panda, it plummetted out of SERPS when the “junk” pages were removed! Yet my cashback site, which offers content duplicated on many sites across the net, continues to rank well! There seems to be no logic to this, but has there ever been where Google is concerned?!
I can understand what they were trying to do. However, there are still tons of people who swear that profile links (pretty much alone) are ranking their sites. Why not go after crap like that instead of actual content and articles people have taken time to write? Just my two cents…
Panda positively destroyed us. On our site, the least useful content went up considerably and the most useful, original, valued content fell off the earth.
I took a look at keyword rankings. Some of the ones where we used to rank are now replaced with some competitors and some sites that don’t have nearly the age or quality of content we do.
So what is “fair?” We’ve never used black hat principles and the result is a bulldozer. How does anyone here even know the true “impact” of Panda over the millions of website that exist? None of you do. You can only speak from your own experiences.
Spammers will always survive no matter what Google does. Now they’ll start spamming social networking sites.
Hi,
Google panda only penalized those site who post a duplicate content to the website. I thinks it has been more competitive to all .
Pretty much Google as declared war on large/small businesses that are already struggling in a global recession. The timing couldn’t had been worse as Google attacks its competitors and rival views of the internet with its ‘algorithm changes’. For myself I’ve seen roughly a 10% drop in overall traffic but what is more concerning the quality of the traffic since the Panda update has been really bad.
From a users point of view I had experience of this when there has been a couple of time I’ve typed in keywords to find an answer to a question but was repeatedly given results that were totally irrelevant to the question. I ended up going to “Bing” to get the answer in the end!
Our website is hit by the Google panda, now the Google roll out the panda 2.5. The ranking is never come back. It affects our business seriously. From this courses, I have to admit that business should not depends on the Google search anymore. We should find other methods to attract more visitors to our website.