What is Google's Panda update?

Google, like the other Search Engines have special, unique algorithms that they have created and which determine where your website will be placed in their search result pages. From time to time the search engines will release major updates to these algorithms that can either positively or negatively affect your websites results, and that is what Google has done with the latest update, Panda.

Over 10% of websites have been affected by the Panda update worldwide so far so it is something all website owners should be aware of and how to work with it and not unknowingly against it. The Panda update is also one of the first updates by Google to its algorithm to be a staggered update, due to the intensity of the changes that Google is putting in place, these are still going on and may do for some time to come as Google rolls out the changes gradually. The last update to Panda , Panda 2.5, was released on February 24th, April 11th, May 9th, June 18th, July 22nd, September 28th, October 9th, October 15th, October 19th, November 18th 2011 just to show you how recent the last Google Panda update was.

So what is different with how Google now ranks websites with the release of the Panda update?

Google’s Panda update can be seen to have major changes in the following areas.

1) Links

The Panda update has been released to try and combat a lot of the rubbish websites that are setup to make money from advertising and have low quality content to their visitors. Google used to put a lot of weight on links pointing to your website and these spam sites buy links from other websites to get ahead in the search results. Panda has seen a massive move away from relying on links pointing to your website as a ranking factor and PageRank, Google's term for the equity other sites give yours and you give theirs, has been seriously devalued as a result meaning links alone won’t do you any good.

2) Spelling mistakes

The Google Panda update now takes into account misspellings on your entire website. A lot of misspelling across your entire website will see negative effects, even on pages that do not have any, so one thing you can do as a site owner is to check your websites content to make sure as many misspellings as possible are corrected.

3) Code marking up the content on your website

Google relies a lot more heavily on the content on your website and how that content is coded up. If the content is coded up incorrectly then again you may now see negative changes against your website in the Search Results.

4) Your websites trust factor

The trust that the search engines have in your website now plays more of a key role. A website will gain trust in the eyes of the search engines over time, if the website provides good content and does not try to cheat the system the more trust your website has the easier it is to rank for certain key terms. The less it has the harder it will be as a result.

5) User behaviour

Panda has also put a lot more faith in the way your users react towards your website. Google is just another website that has users after all and it has to keep those users, you, happy with the results it is giving you. If you search for Pink dogs and go to the first website, then back to the search results page then click the second site. You then don't stay very long there either and return back to the search results page and click the third result but this time you stay for a while on this site, click multiple pages on the third site that may indicate that the first 2 sites did not return what the user was expecting for the term Pink dogs.

Now if 1 million people search for that term and 950,000 all do the same that would indicate that the first 2 websites are not what Google’s users are expecting and the third website is. Specnet have several websites we work with on a day to day basis to help improve them not just for the Search Engines but for their websites users on the whole and as a result to help bring in a much higher rate of sales.

6) Site speed

Google Panda now means Google takes into account how fast your website loads, as a slow loading websites won’t keep Google’s users, coming back to that web site as they will give up and go elsewhere. So if your website it taking a long time, 4 Seconds or more to fully load on average, then this may be working against you.

7) Content and the quality of it

Content and the quality of your pages now plays a much bigger role than ever before due to Panda. With other factors being devalued and the users staying on your website based on what your website is offering, content wise, then the quality of the content needs to be high. Low quality articles or product pages will work against you so these need to be written for the user and what the user is expecting, again this may not be what you think they are expecting. Specnet can see via tools what key terms people are searching for and can aim your content to match those key terms which will bring you the highest return.

Do I need to worry about the Google Panda update?

The short answer is no if your site is adhering to all the following:

  1. Providing useful and relevant content that users want, however this may not be content you expect them to want.
  2. Loads quickly, ideally under 5 seconds. Specnet can get most websites to load in 1-3 seconds on average if this is your problem.
  3. Has a low user bounce rate, that being users come back time and time again and your website makes lots of sales or is contacted frequently. One of the ways to determine this if you are an ecommerce website is to work out your conversion rate (How many people visit your website compared to how many of those people convert and make a sale via it) if this is over 3% than it may indicate a good conversion rate. Specnet are specialists on working with websites to help you make more sales so if this is low, or even around 3% then contact us to help increase it.
  4. There is no misspellings.
  5. Is not trying to cheat the system.
  6. Does not rely on links to get its results.
  7. Offers value to your users.
  8. If the code that is displaying the content is correct and "marked up" correctly.

If your website does not match any of the following, or even you are not sure, please contact us today and we will be happy to give you a free Search Engine prominent report to help you and your business.

If you run an ecommerce website and are disappointed at the results it is getting you we can work closely with you to pick out bottlenecks and flash points in your website to help increase your conversion rate and push a lot more sales to your business. It may not be the traffic getting to your website that is the problem if your website is not useable by your users.