The Panda algorithm is one way Google currently checks websites for quality.
April 2012 update: Panda updates were most recently run on 23 March 2012 (3.4) and 19 April 2012 (3.5).
The Panda Algorithm is a relatively new feature of the way in which Google generates relevant search enquiries, which I first discussed back in February. Unlike much of Google’s algorithm, it is not calculated in real time or at the time of a search. The process is run across the whole of the search index at fairly regular intervals and so the consequences of the algorithm can be noticeable to a website on fairly fixed dates and can be seen in your analytics.
The aim of the algorithm is to assess the quality of a web site across its whole domain, rather than assessing the particular relevance of a web page to a particular search. What this quality represents may be controversial, especially given some of the results, but Google gives guidance about this here.
As well as all the usual markers like title and description tags, we can expect Google to be looking at the way you pages are structured in a Readers’ Digest type manner: Clear headings, sub-headings, bullet points etc. They’ll be looking at the incorporation of pictures and video. Parts of a large website which are poor in quality (say a scraped directory with copied content) may bring down the performance of the whole site. This algorithm is a fight about web spam as much as real quality.
As ever, the what really matters is that the content is well written, unique, trustworthy and interesting – across the whole site.
How do they do check that? We know one way is to use social signals from the page and site. If the page has lots of Facebook Likes , Twitter links and new Google + likes, then this is a real indicator that live humans, not just machines, think something of the site.
If you had asked Google whether social signals mattered to search results in November 2010, the answer would have been no. Since the spring of 2011, this does matter. It is extremely easy to add Like, Tweet and +1 buttons to a site, let alone other sharing buttons. Sophistication, for example use of Facebook’s Open Graph Protocols or Social Plugins can come later.
Are you doing this on your site? Why not add them today?
We know Panda updates have been run on approximately the following dates in the US. For the UK and non-English sites, the dates may be a little different. If your Analytics show a drop in traffic on or about these dates, it is worth having an expert check the site. Contact Steven Loveridge for help and advice.
Panda 1.0: 24 February 2011
Panda 2.0: 11 April 2011
Panda 2.1: 10 May 2011
Panda 2.2: 16 June 2011
Panda 2.3: 23 July 2011
Panda 2.4: 12 August 2011
Panda 2.5: 28 September 2011We also know from a recent Tweet by Matt Cutts of Google that Panda 2.6 is likely to be run soon.
Related posts: