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GOOGLE PANDA UPDATES

Google has announced a new Panda refresh, making this version number 24.This refresh has a noticeable impact 1.2% of English based queries according to Google.

The previous confirmed update was #23 and it impacted 1.3% of English queries on December 21, 2012. Prior to that was a refresh on November 21st that impacted 0.8% of queries. It seems like Google is now rolling out these updates every 4 weeks or so.

Last week there were significant reports of a Google update, which Google denied.

Here are all the releases so far for Panda:

Panda Update 1, Feb. 24, 2011 (11.8% of queries; announced; English in US only)

Panda Update 2, April 11, 2011 (2% of queries; announced; rolled out in English internationally)

Panda Update 3, May 10, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)

Panda Update 4, June 16, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)

Panda Update 5, July 23, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)

Panda Update 6, Aug. 12, 2011 (6-9% of queries in many non-English languages; announced)

Panda Update 7, Sept. 28, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)

Panda Update 8, Oct. 19, 2011 (about 2% of queries; belatedly confirmed)

Panda Update 9, Nov. 18, 2011: (less than 1% of queries; announced)

Panda Update 10, Jan. 18, 2012 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)

Panda Update 11, Feb. 27, 2012 (no change given; announced)

Panda Update 12, March 23, 2012 (about 1.6% of queries impacted; announced)

Panda Update 13, April 19, 2012 (no change given; belatedly revealed)

Panda Update 14, April 27, 2012: (no change given; confirmed; first update within days of another)

Panda Update 15, June 9, 2012: (1% of queries; belatedly announced)

Panda Update 16, June 25, 2012: (about 1% of queries; announced)

Panda Update 17, July 24, 2012:(about 1% of queries; announced)

Panda Update 18, Aug. 20, 2012: (about 1% of queries; belatedly announced)

Panda Update 19, Sept. 18, 2012: (less than 0.7% of queries; announced)

Panda Update 20 , Sep. 27, 2012 (2.4% English queries, impacted, belatedly announced

Panda Update 21, Nov. 5, 2012 (1.1% of English-language queries in US; 0.4% worldwide; confirmed, not announced)

Panda Update 22, Nov. 21, 2012 (0.8% of English queries were affected; confirmed, not announced)

Panda Update 23, Dec. 21, 2012 (1.3% of English queries were affected; confirmed, announced)

Panda Update 24, Jan. 22, 2013 (1.2% of English queries were affected; confirmed, announced)

Related Topics: Features: Analysis | Google: Panda Update | Google: SEO | Panda Update News | Top News







    

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The Panda process

Google Panda was built through an algorithm update that used artificial intelligence in a more sophisticated and scalable way than previously possible. Human quality testers rated thousands of websites based on measures of quality, including design, trustworthiness, speed and whether or not they would return to the website. Google's new Panda machine-learning algorithm was then used to look for similarities between websites people found to be high quality and low quality.

Many new ranking factors have been introduced to the Google algorithm as a result, while older ranking factors like PageRank have been downgraded in importance. Google Panda is updated from time to time and the algorithm is run by Google on a regular basis. On April 24, 2012 the Google Penguin update was released, which affected a further 3.1% of all English language search queries, highlighting the ongoing volatility of search rankings.

On September 18, 2012, a Panda update was confirmed by the company in its official Twitter page, where it announced, “Panda refresh is rolling out—expect some flux over the next few days. Fewer than 0.7% of queries noticeably affected"

Another Panda update began rolling out on January 22, 2013, affecting about 1.2% of English queries.

We at West LA SEO are always up to date with Google’s current search engine algorithm updates. Google’s Panda Update is a filter introduced in February 2011 meant to stop sites with poor quality content from working their way into Google’s top search results. Panda is updated from time-to-time. When this happens, sites previously hit may escape, if they’ve made the right changes. Panda may also catch sites that escaped before. A refresh also means “false positives” might get released. Our latest news related to Panda is below.

Panda Recovery

Google says it only takes a few poor quality, or duplicate content, pages to hold down traffic on an otherwise solid site. Google recommends either removing those pages, blocking them from being indexed by Google, or re-writing them . However, Matt Cutts, who is the head of the Webspam team for Google, warns that re-writing duplicate content so that it is original may not be enough to recover from Panda -- the re-writes must be of sufficient high quality. High quality content brings "additional value" to the web. Content that is general, non-specific, and not substantially different from what is already out there should not be expected to rank well: "Those other sites are not bringing additional value. While they’re not duplicates they bring nothing new to the table." We at West Los Angeles SEO are Panda recovery experts, and once the updates are completed and your site is in compliance with Google’s guidelines, there is a formal process where we can ask Google to crawl and re-evaluate your site. If your site has been down-graded by a Panda update give us a call to start the recovery process.

Best Regards, West LA SEO     (424) 272-6228

Panda Updates for 2013

Panda Recovery — July 18, 2013

Google confirmed a Panda update, but it was unclear whether this was one of the 10-day rolling updates or something new. The implication was that this was algorithmic and may have "softened" some previous Panda penalties.

Confirmed: Google Panda Update: The "Softer" Panda Algorithm (SER)

Multi-Week Update — June 27, 2013

Google's Matt Cutts tweeted a reply suggesting a "multi-week" algorithm update between roughly June 12th and "the week after July 4th". The nature of the update was unclear, but there was massive rankings volatility during that time period, peaking on June 27th (according to MozCast data). It appears that Google may have been testing some changes that were later rolled back.

Google's Matt Cutts: Multi-Week Update Rolling Out (SER)

Panda Dance — June 11, 2013

While not an actual Panda update, Matt Cutts made an important clarification at SMX Advanced, suggesting that Panda was still updating monthly, but each update rolled out over about 10 days. This was not the "everflux" many people had expected after Panda #25.

Google’s Panda Dance: Matt Cutts Confirms Panda Rolls Out Monthly Over 10 Of 30 Days (SEL)

"Payday Loan" Update — June 11, 2013

Google announced a targeted algorithm update to take on niches with notoriously spammy results, specifically mentioning payday loans and porn. The update was announced on June 11th, but Matt Cutts suggested it would roll out over a 1-2 month period.

Google Payday Loan Algorithm: Google Search Algorithm Update To Target Spammy Queries (SEL)

Google Spam Algorithm For Spammy Queries: Pay Day Loans+ (SER)

Penguin 2.0 (#4) — May 22, 2013

After months of speculation bordering on hype, the 4th Penguin update (dubbed "2.0" by Google) arrived with only moderate impact. The exact nature of the changes were unclear, but some evidence suggested that Penguin 2.0 was more finely targeted to the page level.

Penguin 4, With Penguin 2.0 Generation Spam-Fighting, Is Now Live (SEL)

Domain Crowding — May 21, 2013

Google released an update to control domain crowding/diversity deep in the SERPs (pages 2+). The timing was unclear, but it seemed to roll out just prior to Penguin 2.0 in the US and possibly the same day internationally.

Google Domain Crowding Update: May 2013 (High Position)

Google Domain Clustering Update (Justin Briggs)

"Phantom" — May 9, 2013

In the period around May 9th, there were many reports of an algorithm update (also verified by high MozCast activity). The exact nature of this update was unknown, but many sites reported significant traffic loss.

A Google Update Is Happening (Google: Nothing To Announce Now) (SER)

SEO Findings From Google’s Phantom Update (GSQi)

Panda #25 — March 14, 2013

Matt Cutts pre-announced a Panda update at SMX West, and suggested it would be the last update before Panda was integrated into the core algorithm. The exact date was unconfirmed, but MozCast data suggests 3/13-3/14.

Panda #24 — January 22, 2013

Google announced its first official update of 2013, claiming 1.2% of queries affected. This did not seem related to talk of an update around 1/17-18 (which Google did not confirm).





Brief Update

Google's head of search spam, Matt Cutts posted a new video today talking about the Panda update. The question he tried to answer was, "what should a site owner do if they think they might be affected by Panda?" Matt's short answer to the question is to make sure to write high quality content, content at the level of published books or in popular magazines. Content is definitely king. Cutts explains that Panda launched on February 24, 2011 and this year has been integrated into the "indexing process" where the algorithm is somewhat baked into the normal ranking algorithms.
West LA seo stays up-to-date on all of the Penguin and Panda updates. If you have the time and inclination to do this yourself, you can simply Google search “Matt Cutts youtube videos” and watch as many as you like. West LA SEO does this ourselves. We would rather hear this directly from Google rather than learn from trial and error or convince ourselves that we have private individualized knowledge as we have seen competitors do.