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.

Study Finds Google’s Penguin Update Getting Stricter Over Time

Mar 19, 2013 at 2:29pm ET by Barry Schwartz

A study by Portent, an Internet marketing company, shows that Google's tolerance of spammy links to trigger a Penguin algorithm ranking drop has declined by 30% since the Penguin algorithm launched. The study shows that of the 500,000 links found, Google has been steadily reducing its tolerance for webspam. Now, Google is likely to penalize sites with as little as 50 percent suspicious links in their link profiles, whereas 80 percent was required when Penguin first launched. Portent analyzed about 10,000 links pointing at each of the top 50 sites on the 2012 Inc. 5000 list. They then cap [...]

Google Panda Update 25 Seems To Have Hit

Mar 15, 2013 at 2:04pm ET by Barry Schwartz

There are many webmasters and SEOs believing right now that Google has released an update to their Panda algorithm late yesterday. We've reached out to Google to confirm or deny the Panda update, as we've done 24 times previously; but this time, Google told us they are unlikely to confirm future Panda updates since Panda will be incorporated into their indexing processes. It would not be surprising if this was indeed a Panda update since Matt Cutts, Google's head of search spam, did say at SMX West that a Panda update will be rolling out this Friday through the weekend. Matt then said al [...]

Google: We’re Unlikely To Confirm Current Or Future Panda Updates

Mar 15, 2013 at 1:53pm ET by Barry Schwartz

What's that, a Panda Update you just felt? Some believe so. But Google says it is unlikely to confirm that or any future Panda Update, as it has done in the past, because of the new "gradual" rollout infrastructure it is using for Panda Update changes. Earlier this week at SMX West, Google's Matt Cutts said a new Panda Update might hit this week, then later said that the update — and future updates — would no longer be apparent as an abrupt change. Rather, Panda changes would roll out over a series of days. Because of this, Google now says it's unlikely it will confirm officially if [...]

Google: Panda To Be Integrated Into The Search Algorithm (Panda Everflux)

Mar 13, 2013 at 6:25pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Matt Cutts, Google's head of search spam, announced at SMX West today that their Panda algorithm will soon be more integrated into their overall continuous algorithm updates. Meaning, the Panda refreshes that we have been tracking in detail will start to be less severe and noticeable to webmasters and SEOs. The Panda updates will be more real-time, as opposed to being manually pushed out. When will this happen? As early as this weekend with the next Panda refresh. Here is the audio clip from the show where Matt Cutts announced this. Here is a partial transcript: Rather than ha [...]

Google’s Matt Cutts On Upcoming Penguin, Panda & Link Networks Updates

Mar 11, 2013 at 8:03pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Google's head of search spam, Matt Cutts, announced new updates with Google's Penguin and Panda algorithms and new link network targets in 2013. Matt announced this during the SMX West panel, The Search Police. Significant Penguin Update Matt said that there will be a large Penguin update in 2013 that he thinks will be one of the more talked about Google algorithm updates this year. Google's search quality team is working on a major update to the Penguin algorithm, which Cutts called very significant. The last Penguin update we have on record was Penguin 3 in October 2012. Before that, w [...]

How To Stop The Panic Before Asking “Have I Been Panda Slapped?”

Feb 26, 2013 at 3:17pm ET by Jenny Halasz

[caption id="attachment_112063" align="alignright" width="205"] Image credit to ShutterStock[/caption] You may see a drop in rankings or traffic and immediately panic. Have I been Panda-slapped? Even now, as we look at the two year anniversary of Google's Panda Update, the likelihood is that you have not. Rankings and traffic fluctuate for many reasons, most of which are not related to penalties from search engines. But, how can you tell? Instead of watching rankings overall, watch categories of keywords. If you separate your keyword categories by topic, you can more easily spot trends t [...]

Google Panda Two Years Later: 5 Questions With HubPages CEO Paul Edmondson

Feb 26, 2013 at 8:30am ET by Matt McGee

(Editor's Note: This is the final article in a 3-part series looking at the aftermath of Google's Panda algorithm update, which launched February 24, 2011. To catch up, please see the first two articles in the series: Google Panda Two Years Later: Losers Still Losing & One Real Recovery and Google Panda Two Years Later: The Real Impact Beyond Rankings & SEO Visibility.) In the two years since Google rolled out the Panda update, many of the "losers" are still losing, and several others have been impacted beyond rankings and SEO. HubPages.com fits both descriptions. Launched in [...]

Google Panda Two Years Later: The Real Impact Beyond Rankings & SEO Visibility

Feb 25, 2013 at 8:45am ET by Matt McGee

(Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of articles looking at the aftermath of Google's Panda algorithm update, which launched February 24, 2011. To catch up, please see the first article in the series: Google Panda Two Years Later: Losers Still Losing & One Real Recovery.) Google's Panda algorithm update, which launched two years ago, had an enormous impact on the SEO industry and online publishing as a whole. As with any Google algo change, there are winners and losers in its search results. In part one of this series, we looked at the current search visibility of some of P [...]

Google Panda Two Years Later: Losers Still Losing & One Real Recovery

Feb 24, 2013 at 9:00am ET by Matt McGee

(Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of articles looking at the aftermath of Google's Panda algorithm update, which launched February 24, 2011.) Two years ago today, Google sent shockwaves through not only the SEO industry, but also through online publishing in general when it launched the Panda algorithm update. It was originally called the "farmer" update because Google's prime target was "content farms," a name used to describe sites that created high-quantities of low-quality content that sometimes ranked highly in Google's search results. Although Google didn't specifically [...]

Google Panda Update Version #24; 1.2% Of Search Queries Impacted

Jan 22, 2013 at 1:16pm ET by Barry Schwartz

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 querie [...]

Official: It’s Google Panda Update 23, Impacting ~1.3% Of Queries

Dec 21, 2012 at 1:50pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Google has confirmed rumors of a Google update announcing on Twitter that they pushed out a Panda data refresh today impacting about 1.3% of English queries. This would make for the 23rd Panda update since the first Panda algorithm was introduced on February 24, 2011. Since then we had 22 updates both to the algorithm and also to the index or data refreshes. The latest impacted 1.3% of the queries, whereas version 22 impacted only 0.8% of English queries. We did see signs of a major update a week ago but Google told us there was no such update. Then again, I reported early signs of an [...]

Confirmed: Google Panda Refresh #22 On November 21st; 0.8% Of Queries Impacted

Nov 30, 2012 at 2:58am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google has confirmed that they ran a refresh to the Google Panda algorithm on Wednesday, November 21st. On November 20th, we asked Google about a Panda refresh - since we were fairly confident there was some sort of update. Google told us there was no update but an update would be coming within 7 to 10 days. The update came a day later, not several days later. This would make this the 22nd Panda refresh we've tracked. The 21st Panda refresh was on November 5th and impacted about 1.1% of English queries. This update, Google told us 0.8% of English queries were affected to a degree that a [...]

No, That Wasn’t A Panda Update — But One Is Coming

Nov 20, 2012 at 8:27am ET by Barry Schwartz

We've been hearing reports from within the SEO community that a significant Google update happened starting this past Friday throughout the weekend. Google tells us there was no Panda update over the weekend but is not confirming or denying if there was another type of update over the weekend. Google did however tell us they plan on releasing a Panda refresh within a week or two. So do expect a Panda refresh sometime by the end of this month, leading into early next month. We did ask Google twice about the reports of a Google update. We asked them if they can tell us if it wasn't Panda, [...]

Google Releases Panda Update 21, Impacts 1.1% Of US Queries In English

Nov 6, 2012 at 12:18pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Did you feel it yesterday? Some did, a slight shaking in the Google results. Yes, it was real. Google's confirmed to us that a Panda Update happened yesterday. Google said that worldwide, the update will impact about 0.4% of queries that a regular user might notice. For those searching in the United States in English, the percentage is higher. 1.1%, Google says. This marks the 21st confirmed Panda Update by Google and stays in keeping with the roughly 4-6 week release schedule. Here are all the releases so far: Panda Update 1, Feb. 24, 2011 (11.8% of queries; announced; English i [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Panda Update | Panda Update News | Top News

Verisign Blames Google For Drop In Domain Registration & Renewal Rates

Oct 26, 2012 at 3:09pm ET by Matt McGee

The number of new domains being registered, and existing domains being renewed, is slowing down and Verisign -- the company that operates the .com and .net domain registries -- says Google is a main reason why. On the company's Q3 earnings call yesterday, Verisign shared the following data related to domain registrations and renewals: total .com and .net domain registrations grew only one percent in Q3, below the company's previous guidance to investors registrations of .net domains were down one percent from a year ago the domain renewal rate was 72.3 percent in Q3, down from 72.9 p [...]

The EMD Update: Like Panda & Penguin, Expect Further Refreshes To Come

Oct 5, 2012 at 12:27pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Last week, Google announced the EMD Update, a new filter that tries to ensure that low-quality sites don't rise high in Google's search results simply because they have search terms in their domain names. Similar to other filters like Panda, Google says EMD will be updated on a periodic basis. Those hit by it may escape the next EMD update, while others not hit this time could get caught up in the future. How Periodic Updates Work: The Panda Example Google has several filters that it updates periodically, that is from time-to-time. The Panda Update is the best example of this periodic na [...]

Google Panda Update 20 Released, 2.4% Of English Queries Impacted

Oct 3, 2012 at 3:33pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Google has confirmed with us that on Thursday, September 27th, they released a Panda algorithm update - this would be the 20th Panda update and thus we are naming it Panda 20. This is a fairly major Panda update that impacts 2.4% of English search queries and is still rolling out. Late Friday afternoon, Google announced a exact match domain update that removed the chances of a low-quality exact match domain from ranking well in Google. But over the weekend, many non-exact match domain site owners noticed their rankings dropped as well. What was it? Google confirmed that they pushed out a [...]

The Google Dance Is Back

Sep 24, 2012 at 9:15am ET by Danny Sullivan

Vets in the SEO space remember the "Google Dance," how search results used to jump around on a monthly basis as Google rolled out algorithm changes. The dance eventually died, but now it's back. My latest column over at our Marketing Land site, The Return Of The Google Dance, covers how the dance has made a comeback. The column takes you through the history of the old Google Dance and how we've returned to a monthly "Panda Dance." It also explains how the results at Google may dance for other reasons that Google doesn't announce, like refreshes of the Penguin or Top Heavy updates. [...]

Panda Update 3.92 Rolling Out (Or Is It Panda 20 Time?)

Sep 18, 2012 at 12:25pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Google's announced that another Panda Update is being unleashed on its results, one that it says will impact 0.7% of queries. We're calling it Panda 3.92, through we're wondering if it's time to declare Panda 4.0 upon us. Here's the official news from Google: Panda refresh is rolling out—expect some flux over the next few days. Fewer than 0.7% of queries noticeably affected: http://goo.gl/woSU3 The link leads to Google's official announcement of the first Panda Update back in 2011. Panda Update History We've had a string of updates since then, as follows, along with the perc [...]

Content Marketing: What Are The Implications When Working On A Global Scale?

Sep 4, 2012 at 12:29pm ET by Andy Atkins-Krüger

As "online marketing" evolves, you'll note I've used a generic term there rather than SEO -- the titles and descriptions of what we do on a daily basis change as does the focus of the effort. Both "Panda" and "Penguin" in their different ways have had a dramatic influence on how important people think "content" is. That's a huge revelation, of course. Never before had any of us figured out that the giving people access to rich information in the form of "content" could have any relevance whatsovever. (Don't forget my British upbringing and look for the huge irony there, just in case you thi [...]

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