Launched in February 2011, Google Panda is a Google algorithm filter that aims to penalize poor-quality content. Google speaks of a cleaning filter since its main function is to clean the SERPs from poor sites. In this article, OMT will explain everything about Panda Algorithm
Google Panda History
Google Panda was created to pay tribute to SEO by favoring “good quality” sites, ie those that provide relevant content.
But then why the name panda? Quite simply, the Indian engineer who worked on this project is called Navneet Panda!
The algorithm (or filter) went through several stages before arriving at its final version:
- After a first draft in the United States in January 2011 where only 2% of American queries were affected, an official launch was pronounced on February 24, 2011. First launched only in the United States, the filter was not called Google Panda, but “Update farmer”. This name was due to its primary function which is to fight against content farms.
- The second stage was launched in April 2011. It was then a question of sanctioning in addition to the American sites, all the sites of the English-speaking countries (Great Britain, Australia).
- In August 2011, sites all over the world are likely to be “attacked” by the filter (except those from Asian countries).
- Google Panda continues to develop and put new criteria in place in May 2014.
- Since March 2013, Google Panda no longer has a monthly launch, but real-time updates. It is fully integrated into Google’s algorithm and becomes “Panda Everflux”.
Which sites does Panda target?
With Google panda, the American giant does not target all the sites of its search engine.
The sites specially targeted by panda are:
Content farms: these are sites that produce content based on keywords containing what Internet users have searched for the most on search engines. These contents are published on perfectly optimized web pages and therefore appear at the beginning of the SERPs (before the passage of Google Panda). The purpose of these pages is to generate profits through an advertising system.
Content aggregators: these are sites that take content from other content sites in order to publish it on their own blogs.
Q&A forums and blogs: These are low-content sites. Google, therefore, has no interest in indexing these pages since there is no “real” content on these blogs.
Duplicate content: this is content present on several pages on the internet. This content can come from the same site or from two completely separate sites. Only content designated as original by Google will be indexed.
Price comparators: these pages are only used to highlight different prices for the same product. There is no content strictly speaking and therefore no indexing by Google.
How do penalties work?
It goes without saying that the algorithm is not there simply to identify content farms or duplicate content. It is also present to penalize these sites.
The two main penalties sites face are downgrading in the SERPs and blacklisting.
At the beginning of the filter, the penalties systematically and simply resulted in the disappearance of the website from the SERPs. Today, the web giant considers things differently and has implemented a system of gradual sanctions. This can be to remove the entire site or just the pages considered to be of poor quality.
What is meant by low-quality content?
We talk a lot about poor-quality content, but how do you tell content is bad?
Poor quality content can take several forms:
- Duplicate content internally on your site. This can be a description or an article present on different pages.
- Externally duplicated content. We are talking here about content that has been copied and pasted from another site. Be aware that if this happens to you, Google will favor the canonical URL, that is to say, that of the original content and not the one that scraped the initial page.
- “Spam” comments that may be published on your blog and/or website. Spams are considered comments posted automatically through bots. If you want to avoid these “spam” comments you can use an antispam like a hidden blank field or a captcha (Completely Automated Public Turing test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart).
What to do if his site has been sanctioned?
The sanction of the Panda algorithm is automatic, so you will not be notified if you are sanctioned.
However, a few signs can alert you:
- Less well-indexed pages.
- Pages that lose their positions in the SERPs.
- Loss of visits to the website.
- Site less visited by Google robots.
- A loss of position of the website.
You may have been sanctioned before, but you don’t know how to avoid the sanction again.
To avoid being punished, here are some tips:
- Create unique and original content. If several contents are too similar, perhaps it will be necessary to make a choice in indexing.
- Produce useful content for your Internet users. Your readers should walk away from your page with the answer to their questions.
In 2011, Google also posted guidelines that outline questions you should ask yourself to find out if you are likely to be penalized by Google Panda.
If you have been hit, you can get out of it with a few tips:
- Check all your indexing problems on your site and de-index unnecessary pages or similar content.
- Eliminate your “black hat” practices.
- Limit ads on your pages.
- Focus on the user experience by improving, for example, the loading time of your pages.
You may not be the No.1 enemy of Google Panda, for that, you just need to have a quality site with useful content for your Internet users. Small additional tips: consider diversifying your sources!
