Google has confirmed reports of a Panda update with us. Thye company told us they have done a data refresh of the Google Panda algorithm about a week ago, and added that there were no additional signals or algorithm changes. This was only a data refresh.
I saw reports over the past week or so of webmasters commenting about their rankings. Most were complaining that they lost rankings, but some said sites that were originally hit by Panda regained their traffic levels pre-Panda. This would explain the data refresh, where Google ran the algorithm and updated the sites that should or should not have been touched by Panda.
Google Panda 3.2
Google said this happened about a week or so, so I would place this Google Panda 3.2 update as happening on January 18, 2012.
Why 3.2 and not 2.x? Well, I spoke with a Googler back in late November, they expressed that one of the 2.x updates we labeled as a “minor” update, should have likely been named as a major update and thus labelled a 3.0 update. I personally believe that was an October Panda update, that we did not cover here, but I do not have confirmation on that. In fact, Google does not number their updates, so it is hard to nail down.
The 3.1 update was likely the the minor update from November and now this being a basic “data refresh,” we’d label this as a minor update as well, and call this the 3.2 update.
There was a long gap between this update and the update from November because Google promised us no Panda updates during holidays.
Previous Panda Updates
Here’s the Panda update schedule so far, as we’ve tracked and had confirmed by Google:
- Panda Update 1.0: Feb. 24, 2011
- Panda Update 2.0: April 11, 2011 (about 7 week gap)
- Panda Update 2.1: May 10, 2011 (about 4 week gap)
- Panda Update 2.2: June 16, 2011 (about 5 week gap)
- Panda Update 2.3: July 23, 2011 (about 5 week gap)
- Panda Update 2.4: August 12, 2011 (about 3 week gap)
- Panda Update 2.5: September 28, 2011 (about 7 week gap)
- Panda Update 3.0 : ~October 19, 2011 (about 3 week gap)
- Panda Update 3.1 : November 18, 2011 (about 3 week gap)
- Panda Update 3.2 : ~January 18, 2012 (about 2 month gap)
We are waiting to hear back from Google on exact dates and will update our story with those dates if and when we hear back. But Google has indeed confirmed a Panda data refresh as a week or so ago.
Related Articles
- Taking a Closer Look at the Google’s Panda 2.5 “Flux”
- They’re Back! Google Issues Weather Report For Panda Update
- Google Panda 2.5: Losers Include Today Show, The Next Web; Winners Include YouTube, Fox News
- Confirmed: Google Panda 2.5 Update Arrived This Week
- Google Panda Update 2.4: Panda Goes International, In Most Languages
- Official: Google Panda 2.3 Update Is Live
- Can You Dig Out Of Your Google Panda Hole By Offloading To Subdomains?
- Why Google Panda Is More A Ranking Factor Than Algorithm Update
Related Topics: Features: Analysis | Google: Panda Update | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search | Google: Webmaster Central | Panda Update News | Top News
Surviving Panda 3.2 – Repeat after me…I will target the right keyword and provide superb content…I will target the right keyword and provide superb content….I will target the right keyword and provide superb content.
I noticed a significant increase in traffic to my blog since last week. I’m not sure if this has anything to do with the Panda update though.
@DerekJones, exactly the same with me. The blog was constantly being scraped and lacked authority. Finally it is seeing a great increase in visits. The content is (and always has been) 100% unique. No secret sauce…just write!
Google continues its tirade against affiliate marketers and gives yet even more favoritism to big brands & Fortune 500′s.
I will target the right keyword and provide superb content. Google does not have a vendetta against webmasters so much as a responsibility to serve up the best possible results to any query.
We should worry less how Google ranks us and care more about how satisfied our target market is.
@BarrySchwartz: Thanks Barry. I’m assuming the Jan 18, 2012 date is for US SERPs? If so, do you know if international results were updated as well? Or what the typical lag is for panda refreshes and updates to propagate to Canada, UK, etc.?
“We should worry less how Google ranks us and care more about how satisfied our target market is.”
An idyllic stance and one you should keep, if you can. Unfortunately, many of us are bound by more earthly metrics.
It happend the same time this was released
Page layout algorithm improvement
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2012/01/page-layout-algorithm-improvement.html
could this be the reason why?
Premium member since 01/2009
Alfred, Panda and the Page Layout Algo are not related according to Google’s John Mueller.
ILF, I think the rollout would be both US and international but I do not know for sure.
My guess is it actually happened about the 14th as lots of people started crying on the forums about then.
On the 6th Jan 2012 my sites lost some very powerfull #1 rankings after holding them for years ie ‘business for sale’, ‘businesses for sale’, etc. (in Australia). I dropped to #8 and #4. My guess is the update actually happend around then.
Thank for providing the update, but as there has not so much updated, i will have to wait for the next update.
On of my client’s Canada based news website has seen a great improvement in traffic.. Always wear “White Hat”!!!!!!!!!!
No change for any of the sites we work with (and track). Guess that’s a good thing (we weren’t hit by any of the previous updates either!).
Hi Barry,
did the Google Page Layout and Panda Update happen on the same time? Our site was hit by 30%. We had 3 Ads above the fold (which we removed) and our site has pages with thin content, because it is a reference dictionary.
It is important to us to differentiate the two and know which one caused the downgrade. Any suggestions?
Thanks Mike.
“We should worry less how Google ranks us and care more about how satisfied our target market is.”
Some people tend to forget, or not realize how important Google and search engines in general can be in shaping and forming the target market and goals of other companies and individuals.
Our dentist local listing site got affected by the first Panda Algorithm change,and am sure it will be with this coming change.
Friends. My all website are affected, i don’t know the exact reason because its not possible for all sites. my client website is also penalized from this update. no ads, good sites, product and user friendly site with good content. but don’t know what is the reason to penalized. “site- harshulayurpharma.com – its a Ayurveda treatment site.
Please tell me know my all sites are ranking on #5,6,7 pages of Google. so should i think its a kind of penalty and will i get rid of from this penalty if “yes” then how? Please help
We see some drops of the traffic and also from GA that it has not picked up any searches since 28 Jan 2012…
If our site was hit and started to decline at the end of the day on Jan 19 (5% lower), then on Jan 20 traffic declined by 30%… Were we hit by Page Layout Algorithm or Panda 3.2?
Thanks,
Mike
@Andrew Strauss – Could it possibly be that your site is dedicated to an herbal product that claims to cure HIV/AIDS?
@Drew Hammond this is the any reason to penalize :) my other client’s website got penalized?
Now what? I just want to know that how can i get back to these penalized sites? if someone have idea please share it.
All Hail Caesar.
@Andrew Strauss – same condition here, how can we gain our lost ranking Andrew tel me, while I’m doing only white hat, and have a good content, tel me what is the drawback of http://www.t9l.com