Google’s Panda algorithm is an enigma, a paradox. On one hand, it has devastated many web-based businesses. That is not a trivial thing. On the other hand, in time it has the potential to truly improve search quality and evolve information retrieval. It simultaneously destroys SEO-reliant sites that have leveraged Google’s vulnerabilities, while it emphatically raises the entry to organic search as a marketing channel.
Panda has left sites starved and depleted of traffic, crushed in its wake. It has also brought out the best efforts of SEOs trying to find answers and solutions to the riddles.
In my own experience, for some queries it has greatly improved search quality, while for others, caused an odd retrograde. Anyone remember the Vince update? Brand bias seems to be back in a big way, something Aaron Wall has been pretty vocal about.
One important note: while brands tend to benefit from authority signals, Vince was technically not a brand bias per se, but rather a weighting to authority metrics for head terms, in which brands naturally benefited the most. This is important in the context of Panda, too.
While there certainly is a reason to lean on brands for relevance in search, much of what we’re seeing on the web is the ‘real world’ lining up with the Internet. Brands and big business rule, on and off the web, but that wasn’t always true.
There was a time when the Internet held the promise of a level playing field. Perhaps that’s changing; or perhaps that’s Google’s vision for local search?
Friendly Fire
There is too much bloodshed out there. I don't remember a Google algorithm that has done so much damage – so much collateral damage – as the February 2011 Panda update. One only has to read comments like this one from angry webmasters to get a flavor for the type of "friendly fire" Panda has peppered across the web. Not to mention sites like WonderHowTo.com seeing scrapers and syndication partners outrank them for their own content.
Panda is a profound change to Google's algorithm, and it's no surprise that there are sites out there being hurt that may not deserve it. The only caveat I would offer is that oftentimes sites that feel they are being incorrectly singled out, upon closer examination, often have plenty of practices contributing to their loss in traffic.
In short, take a close look at your site and be brutally honest. If you still feel Panda is mislabeling your site as low-quality, then let Google know about it like the 2,000+ sites have done in this thread. Just be sure your house is in order, first.
That said, it’s unfortunate that one of the few known reversals of Panda came to a site that may not have been impacted by Panda in the first place.
Panda-hit sites look like the following, with dates matching up where the decline begins (around the week of Feb 6-12):
While traffic loss from Panda tends to fall off a cliff, it can also slowly deteriorate, especially if there are other technical problems:
One of the only sites we know of to recovery fully from Panda in short order:
Because Google is updating the algorithm in intervals of up to 30 days or longer, recovery can take time. Even after steps have been taken to remedy the situation. Additionally, because this change is algorithmic there are no manual exceptions or overrides, unlike a link penalty, for example.
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