Hit By Panda Update? Google Has 23 Questions To Ask Yourself To Improve

Amit Singhal, Google’s head of search, published a blog post on the Google Webmaster Central blog named More guidance on building high-quality sites.

Amit’s goal with this post is to have those webmasters impacted by this Panda Update, which rolled out internationally about a month ago, with some direction and guidance to help explain what sites Google likes and which they dislike.

Amit said that he cannot document publicly the “actual ranking signals” but will share questions you should ask yourself and consider when trying to understand why a site was impacted by this update. Those questions include:

1. Would you trust the information presented in this article?
2. Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
3. Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
4. Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
5. Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
6. Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
7. Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
8. Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
9. How much quality control is done on content?
10. Does the article describe both sides of a story?
11. Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
12. Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
13. Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
14. For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
15. Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
16. Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
17. Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
18. Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
19. Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
20. Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
21. Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
22. Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?
23. Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

More Stories On The Google Panda Update:

• Google Rolls Out Its Panda Update Internationally And Begins Incorporating Searcher Blocking Data
• New York Times: Yes, Google’s Panda Update Hit NYT-Owned About.com
• Panda Update: Google Lowers The Boom On eHow.com
• Winners & Losers As Panda Goes Global? eHow, Bing’s Ciao.co.uk & More
• 5 New Tactics For SEO Post-Panda
• The Farmer Panda Impact Nobody Is Talking About
• Yellow Pages SEO In The Post-Panda World
• Hitwise Data Pegs Panda Impact On Demand Media Sites At 40%
• Google Speaks More About The Farmer Update, AKA Panda Update
• When Pandas Attack: Online Retailers Need To React
• The Farmer/Panda Update: New Information From Google and The Latest from SMX West
• Lessons Learned at SMX West: Google’s Farmer/Panda Update, White Hat Cloaking, And Link Building
• Demand Media: Panda’s Impact On eHow.com “Significantly Overstated”
• Your Site’s Traffic Has Plummeted Since Google’s Farmer/Panda Update. Now What?

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on SEM topics.