THE “GOOGLE PANDA” UPDATE

Overview

What is Google Panda?

5 Content Sins

Panda Losers

Panda Winners

WHAT IS GOOGLE PANDA?

What is Google Panda Update?

Is an Algorithmic change by Google designed to weed out shallow or low-quality content from its top search results. 

Google says the change impacts 12% (11.8% is the unrounded figure) of its search results in the US

A far higher impact on results than most of its algorithm changes.

What is Google Panda Update?

Panda starts off from a human point of view, not a machine’s. We can look at these sites with human eyes and see the obvious.

Panda is a site-wide penalty, not a page penalty.

If a certain percentage of your pages fall below Panda’s quality algorithm, then the whole site suffers.

Fix enough of these pages and you may recover.

What is Google Panda Update?

5 CONTENT SINS

1. Heavy Template Footprint

“Where’s the Beef?”

How much original content exists above the fold?

This template footprint creates a low ratio of original content. 

Yep that’s the whole page right there! Eliminating these types of empty content pages, or just

adding good material, will go a long way in eliminating Panda penalties

2. Empty Content

Pages and pages of overlapping articles that targeted keywords instead of humans.

3. Overlapping and Redundant Articles

Optimizing for Adsense does not mean optimizing for search.

4. High Ad Ratio

If a machine built your pages with minimal human intervention, Google wants to devalue you

5. Affiliate Links and auto generated contents

PANDA LOSERS

Panda LosersDomain Visibility Index Loss SISTRIX (percentage loss)

wisegeek.com 93.3622 -77%

ezinearticles.com 58.4273 -90%

suite101.com 50.755 -94%

hubpages.com 47.7632 -87%

yourdictionary.com 39.5044 -74%

brothersoft.com 37.6418 -66%

buzzle.com 36.7005 -85%

associatedcontent.com 35.7198 -93%

freedownloadscenter.com 27.2522 -90%

essortment.com 23.4146 -91%

fixya.com 22.9456 -80%

americantowns.com 22.6942 -91%

lovetoknow.com 21.4714 -83%

articlesbase.com 18.7999 -94%

howtodothings.com 17.8122 -84%

mahalo.com 17.2586 -84%

automotive.com 16.9008 -71%

business.com 16.104 -93%

doityourself.com 15.9952 -77%

merchantcircle.com 15.7573 -85%

thefind.com 15.6825 -83%

wrongdiagnosis.com 15.5617 -73%

findarticles.com 15.2418 -90%

faqs.org 15.0573 -91%

tradekey.com 15.0415 -89%

PANDA WINNERS

Panda Winners1. Amazon.com

2. eHow.com

3. NexTag.com

4. Wikipedia.com

5. Walmart.com

6. Target.com

7. Etsy.com

8. Answers.Yahoo.com

9. Sears.com

10.bestonlinecoupons.com

11.youtube.com

12.ebay.com

13.facebook.com

14.instructables.com

Hit by Panda? Google has 23 Questions To Ask Yourself To Improve1. Would you trust the information presented in this article?

2. Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?

3. Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?

4. Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?

5. Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?

6. Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?

7. Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?

8. Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?

9. How much quality control is done on content?

10. Does the article describe both sides of a story?

11. Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?

Hit by Panda? Google has 23 Questions To Ask Yourself To Improve1. Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or

spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?

2. Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?

3. For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?

4. Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?

5. Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?

6. Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?

7. Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?

8. Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?

9. Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?

10. Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?

11. Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?

12. Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

Thank You!