Posts Tagged ‘Google Panda’

Panda 4.2 is Rolling-Out – Should You Be Worried?

August 3rd, 2015

Yes, Google Has let its Panda loose again. Albeit this time, the teeth aren’t that sharp. For the past week since around July 24th, the Panda has started rolling and it will continue for the upcoming months. What’s different, however, is that this time around Google has specifically mentioned the number of queries that may be affected to be around 2-3%. This figure is lower than the previous updates where the range of queries affected is usually around 3-7%. This makes it more like a refresh rather than a full blown update.

Don’t forget that a refresh may affect a significant number of your website’s pages and cause loss of rankings.

You Can’t Do Much Now

Panda Rollout 4.2Typically, once the update/Refresh algorithm rolls out, the changes you make aren’t counted. It is too late to apply any changes during the algorithm roll out time frame. All the previous changes had a cut-off date after which you cannot salvage your website from any potential losses.

That said, a webmaster must always look forward to continually update the content on the website. In case you have been noticing some ranking changes, you need to implement changes. However, these new changes will make their impact on the next Panda update.

Roll-Out will Go On for Several Months

Coming months can mean that the roll-out can be very gradual. It can take around 8-12 weeks even to complete. This means you may not primarily know whether or not your website has been affected by the update.

Who Will Be Affected?

The problem with slow updates is that it becomes difficult to track the exact algorithmic changes. Winners and losers cannot be normally predicted. It is too early to make a conclusion on how the new Panda works.

Updates will be Gradual and Intertwined with Each Other

This gradual update roll out will further make it difficult to clearly differentiate between the various updates. Isolating the effects of every update independently will become difficult. For example, Panda and Penguin could be rolling out simultaneously and you won’t be able to differentiate them.

The best approach in this case is to be aware of the start of the roll out and track every minute change. The casual relation between the various updates will be more organic. The thrust of these updates will be more on quality content creation and organic value delivery. Search engine updates will soon be working on a fundamental analytical level rather than plain-in-sight number crunching.

As usual, if your entire domain is affected, the recovery is going to be excruciatingly painful. Landing pages with weak content will be affected and needs to be optimized.

Conclusion

As yet, the Google Panda is pattern-less. There is no decipherable activity to predict any losers and winners. No concrete analysis with specific points can be discussed. You have to observe the slightest changes in ranking to ascertain this Panda update. SERPs will soon start reflecting the algorithmic changes.

We will keep you posted in case this Panda takes out its teeth or claws.