{"id":101456,"date":"2012-07-05T22:11:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-06T03:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/our-definitive-guide-to-google-panda-everything-you-need-to-know-and-what-you-need-to-do\/"},"modified":"2024-12-19T16:39:53","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T21:39:53","slug":"our-definitive-guide-to-google-panda-everything-you-need-to-know-and-what-you-need-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-gb\/insights\/blog\/strategy\/our-definitive-guide-to-google-panda-everything-you-need-to-know-and-what-you-need-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Our definitive Guide to Google Panda: Everything you need to know and what you need to do"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google \u2013 Staying Ahead<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Google has long been the dominant search engine in terms of market share.<\/span> A recent report based on data obtained by SEOmoz, Alexa, Karma Snack and several other trusted analytics sites shows us that as of July 2012, Google has an unbelievable<\/span> 87.6% share<\/span><\/a><\/span> of the search engine market.<\/span><\/span> So, how do you ensure you keep up with Google?\u00a0 Here\u2019s our breakdown of how it affects you and tips on how to stay on top:<\/span><\/p>\n

Latest Updates<\/span>\u00a0– Pandas, penguins & search optimisations.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

To keep its advantage, Google has undergone frequent upgrades and changes to improve the way in which it carries out searches and indexes information.<\/span> Each of these updates focuses on a particular aspect of the search engine.\u00a0 The Google machine has been slowly transformed and upgraded one cog at a time since its official start up in 1998.<\/span> The latest of these upgrades are referred to as the \u2018Penguin\u2019 and \u2018Panda\u2019 updates.<\/span> Roughly speaking, Google Penguin is aimed at finding and penalising dodgy link-building, questionable SEO tactics and in particular, a spammy approach to SEO. We\u2019ll look at Penguin in more detail at a later date.<\/span> The Panda update aims to improve search engine results by rewarding informative and unique content, while penalising the opposite.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Panda Update and its effects<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Panda 1.0 (also known as Farmer) was launched on 24 February 2011 and immediately affected a whopping 12% of queries indexed by Google.<\/span> After Panda was initially implemented, CNET reported a surge in the rankings of news websites and social networking sites, a change that suggests Google was successful in achieving its aims as both of these generate a huge volume of original and engaging content.<\/span> Sistrix, an independent SEO-software firm, raked through a huge amount of data after the initial update and published a table of<\/span> winners and losers<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span> According to Sistrix, the pages that were worse hit are those we call \u2018content farms,\u2019 sites that rely on third-party writers to provide large quantities of low-quality articles and content in order to remain high in SERPs and generate profit through advertising.<\/span> Many<\/span> other sites<\/span><\/a><\/span> and digital bodies looked into the effects of the algorithm update and noted many other types of site that were adversely affected.\u00a0 These include:<\/span><\/span> -Voucher & discount sites<\/span> -Review sites<\/span> -Price comparison sites<\/span> These are all sites that generate huge volumes of thin and deficient content.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"Google<\/a><\/p>\n

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Panda vs. Small Businesses\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

One issue that has been consistently raised against the Panda update is its consistent penalisation of small businesses.<\/span> The problems for small businesses<\/strong><\/span> Because the importance of ranking well in Google is so widely understood, and has been for a while, many smaller businesses, in the years leading up to the update, took to implementing SEO tactics to improve their online visibility.<\/span> Because most small companies simply do not have the time, budget or knowledge to do this in (what Google would now call) \u2018a legitimate fashion,\u2019 the rankings of small businesses were hit particularly hard by the update.<\/span> In addition, the very nature of local business websites makes them natural targets for the Farmer upgrade.\u00a0 This is because:<\/span> –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They contain minimal content,<\/span> –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Businesses dealing with products will often have descriptions and information from the manufacturer\/supplier, which will result in the site being flagged as unoriginal.<\/span> –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Due to both a lack of time and fresh information, it is very hard for small businesses to frequently update their content \u2013 something else that Panda penalises.<\/span> After the release of Panda 1.0, hundreds of articles and posts were published either<\/span> investigating the negative effects<\/span><\/a><\/span> of the update or outspokenly attacking it for taking<\/span> \u2018money out of the pockets of honest people that feed their families with their internet business<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u2019<\/span> Google, trying to appease these voices, has released many<\/span> guides<\/span><\/a><\/span> outlining how to avoid being penalised as well as plenty of information on<\/span> optimising sites on startup<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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