I haven't managed to find and in-depth discussion about the Panda update in this forum so I decided to write this post - not to get advice on "how to combat the panda update", but just because I want to hear some of your views on just a few of the things I have read about the update.
So according to Matt Cutts:
"This update is designed to reduce rankings for low quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on."
There has been a lot of talk about how the update has specifically targeted scraper sites to chip away at the crap which appears in SERPs, and Google seems to be happy with the progress made on this front. But as I'm sure that nobody in this forum would ever launch such a site (
) I will be focusing on the way the changes may possibly affect genuine, quality sites.
So here is a list of just some of the things that are being discussed with regards to the update:
*Note: I'm not claiming to know that these things are 100% true, they are just things that I have read from various reputable sources
1. The amount of pages site-wide that have original, interesting content
2. Amount of, and placement of, advertisements
3. Visitor statistics:1) Bounce rate of page (or site)
2) Visit times
3) Amount of returning visitors
4) CTR from results pages
4. Social media activity
1. A lot of the focus of so-called SEOs has been on the home page of a site or the home page + a couple of others. Of course this was always the wrong way to go about things but it has been suggested that this is now more true than ever. What do you think of the idea that the Panda update has made it more likely that those pages on your site with little or no creative, engaging and original content will drag down the rest of your site?
2. If Google are targeting scraper sites then it seems likely that ads would enter into the equation somewhere. There has been talk that the number of ads, and perhaps more interestingly their placement on the page, now plays a bigger role in determining the reputation of a site. For example, some are claiming that ads closer to the top of the page are penalised more heavily than others.
3. This is where visitor statistics come into play, and I think it is an interesting idea. This is perhaps the most talked about point on this list. The suggestion is that Google have decided that by factoring in things like the number of visitors who stay on a site, the length of time they spend on it, the number of visitors who return, and the CTR from SERPs, it is easier to separate the wheat from the chaff. In theory this makes sense. I can safely say that the large majority of the sites that I have spent a lot of time on, and have visited more than once, have been unique, interesting, creative, funny etc, so it makes sense to use these statistics. How much truth is there to the claim that all of these things are being used more heavily than before? Do you think they will be effective? What about sites who provide the relevant content for the search term but do not generally require much browsing time or a return visit, will they be unfairly hit by these changes?
4. The final point that I want to make here is in reference to the suggestions that social media activity is a more important factor now. Towards the end of last year Matt Cutts confirmed that Google were using the social media factor and at the same time looking to see how they could use it even more (
See here). Again the word "reputation" seems to come up in reference to this as the idea seems to be that social media can be used as one of the factors to determine a site's reputation. This seems to make sense as social media activity is a natural by-product of decent, rank-worthy content. What are people's views on the truth of this claim and the potential effects?
Based on the above points it is possible to infer a few things about what might have changed, or at least become more relevant to the SEO experience. By targeting scraper sites, for example, it would make sense that duplicate content could be a bigger problem than it was before. Ad placement has always been an important point for quality webmasters, but if the above is true then it could potentially become more of a science than it has been previously. But most importantly, through points 3 and 4, the focus seems to be now more than ever on content. As informed, intelligent people on this forum, we have always known the importance of unique content, but the effects of this update seem to have taken it to a new level. The implications of points 3 and 4 is that it is no longer enough for your content to be unique. You must try even harder now to make it funny, readable, interesting, something that really captivates the reader. Additionally you must look at the design of your site, the overall usability of it, pay special attention to the interface and how easily a visitor is able to interact with your site.
These are by no means new concepts, but word on the blogosphere is that the Panda update has implemented them more deeply into the Google process.
I want to reiterate that I'm not making any claims in this post, but just looking for quality discussion and opinions on the topic. I'd also like to reference
this video from SEOmoz which I found interesting, and which provided me with some of the theories mentioned above. I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't yet seen it.
So, thoughts?
