I think Panda was a conspiracy.
-
It's just a theory, but I think that Panda was not really an algorithm update but rather a conspiracy.
Google went out of their way to announce that a new algorithm was being rolled out. The word on the street was that content farms would be affected. Low quality sites would be affected. Scrapers would be affected. So, everyone with decent sites sat back and said, "Ah...this will be good...my rankings will increase."
And then, the word started coming in that some really good sites took a massive hit. We've got a lot of theories on what could be causing the hit, but there doesn't seem to be an obvious fix.
Many of the key factors that have been suggested causes of a site to look bad in Panda's eyes are present on one of my sites, but this site actually increased in rankings after Panda.
So, this is my theory: I think that Google made some random changes that made no sense. They made changes that would cause some scraper sites to go down but they also knew that many decent sites would decline as well.
Why would they do this? The result is fantastic in Google's eyes. They have the whole world of web design doing all they can to create the BEST quality site possible. People are removing duplicate content, reducing ad clutter and generally creating the best site possible. And this, is the goal of Larry Page and Sergey Brin...to make it so that Google gives the user the BEST possible sites to match their query.
I think that a month or so from now there will be a sudden shift in the algo again and many of those decent sites will have their good rankings back again. The site owners will think it's because they put hard work into creating good quality, so they will be happy. And Google will be happy because the web is a better place.
What do you think?
-
hahahaha. I agree with you. First Google manipulates results to see if Bing is copying. Soon after this update comes with all the care that is creating its own content sites optimized for the robots and we can not think of duplicate content. hehehehe
-
Actually I really liked the "content registry" idea.
An library of content where you could register what you have created and, optional, a link to where you want to be considered the main source.
At least it would be 10x more usefull than the google knol idea..
-
I would pay a fee to protect my best content in the Google SERPs.
-
Actually you have a point there... if JC Penny was indeed the catalyst (which I could easily imagine it being) then the time between that and the update would surely mean it would have to have been rushed. I never considered that before.
-
ha ha... I think they did rush this out.... they were quickly trying to pull up their pants after getting embarassed from the JCPenny problem... they needed to bust a few heads quickly...
-
Ha ha, maybe
I think it's something infinitely less planned out and they simply rushed this change out the door without understanding fully what it would do to the SERPs.
Although I do think you're right that in a few months (in what will be claimed to be a second Panda sweep) that things will go back and only the very worst offenders will stay penalised.
-
Yes I like the content registry idea! It would probably be necessary to pay for it as a service though, and to cover dupes that are okay maybe they could just allow dupes as long as they reference back to the source in the registry (for news, quotations, etc... where dupes can't be avoided).
-
Interesting ideas. Thanks for sharing them.
I think that Google is talking a lot about this as a "quality website update"... and that is getting them attention in the media but it is also kicking a lot of webmasters in the butt to clean up their websites.
I think that google should make a "content registry" where I can submit my content and say "this is mine" and then copies or spins of that content will not get traction in the SERPs.
And, I think that they should take a closer look at websites in the Adsense program because the ability to monetize crap and theft is driving lot of bad odor in the SERPs.
-
Haha I like it!!
Well, if it's not what happened, they'll wish they thought of it anyway lol
My view on why other sites got hit is just that they had at least some links coming from sites that got hit... i.e. got 100 backlinks, 10 are from articles on article sites, article sites get hit... lose 10 backlinks (or at least lose some of the value from some of those backlinks)... hence, good site takes a hit too
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Do you think profanity in the content can harm a site's rankings?
In my early 20's I authored an ebook that provides men with natural ways to improve their ahem... "bedroom performance". I'm now in my mid 30s, and while it's not such an enthralling topic, the thing makes me 80 or so bucks a day on good days, and it actually works. I update the blog from time to time and build links to it on occasion from good sources. I've carried my SEO knowledge to a more "reputable" business, but this project is still interesting to me, because it's fully mine. I am more interested in getting it to rank and convert than anything, but following the same techniques that are working to grow the other business, this one continues to tank. Disavow bad links, prune thin content.. no difference. However, one thing I just noticed now are my search queries in the reports. When I first started blogging on this, I was real loose with my tongue, and spoke quite frankly (and dirty to various degrees). I'm much more refined and professional in how I write now. However, the queries I'm ranking for... a lot of d words, c words (in the sex sense)... sounds almost pornographic. Think Google may be seeing this, and putting me lower in rankings or in some sort of lower level category because of it? Heard anything about google penalizing for profanity? I guess in this time of authority and trust, that can hurt both of those... but I wonder if anyone's heard any actual confirmation of this or has any experience with this? Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | | DavidCapital0 -
What is the difference between to all Panda updates or algorithm?
I want to difference between to all updates of panda algorithm. How to differ each updates of Panda between to each other?What kind of changes each update Panda.Please reply soon.
Algorithm Updates | | renukishor0 -
Help for a webstore with Google Warnings for Watermark Images and Panda
I have not had too much experience with helping websites that have been hit by Panda - any tried and tested formulas I can pass to website owner would be great. He does not want to reveal domain name - its in the area of children/baby products 'Web site featured on page 1 of Google search results for many years (website 5 years old- Australian domain) . In April/May 2014, Google suspended our Google Shopping account because we used watermarks on all our images. We were advised that the suspension would remain in place indefinitely or until such time the watermarks were removed. We wrote back to Google to explain that these watermarks were put in place by our store back 2005 with the sole purpose of protecting our intellectual property. Needless to say, their attitude was unwavering. And as a result, revenue plummeted. However, the perfect storm was about to hit our store without warning. In the same month, Panda 4.0 was unleashed and our store was hit once again. This update alone reduced visitor numbers by around 50% overnight. The Panda 4.0 algorithm update was designed to target poor quality, duplicate content and unfortunately we had some of it. We have now begun creating original content with many of the new products we're uploading onto our web site. It's slow and tedious. We have modified our web site to now include a tag on a the home page (this was missing). We have removed many duplicate links from our footer (it was too big and contained hundreds of links that were also repeated from the header). We introduced a blog and we have engaged the services of a local seo company to disavow any bad backlinks and add missing or improve existing content to category and brand pages. No improvement in our situation is yet visible and with Christmas just 3 months away, poor sales during our 'bread and butter' period will mean even tougher times for our store in 2015. ANY PANDA EXPERTS who can help please email me [email protected] - looking for independent freelancers rather than agencies
Algorithm Updates | | GardenBeet0 -
Google Panda - large domain benefits
Hi, A bit of a general question, but has anyone noticed a improvement in rankings for large domains - ie well known, large sites such as Tesco, Amazon? From what I've seen, the latest Panda update seems to favour the larger sites, as opposed to smaller, niche sites. Just wondered if anyone else has noticed this too?Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | Digirank0 -
How to Recover Ranking from Latest Google Panda and EMD Update?
We have 7 websites with the exact match domains. Our Website has been affected by Google recently updated (Panda and EMD Update). we don't want to do any changes in our existing domains. What should we do? So, What is the exact solution for that. Help Us out! Website Names: http://www.hamptoninndenverairport.com http://www.wingatehotelcolumbia.com http://www.fairfieldinnhotelaurora.com http://www.hamptoninnhotelcrestwood.com http://www.laquintahoteldavenport.com http://www.redroofinnhotelcedarrapids.com http://www.hamptoninnhotelcarolstream.com Thanks in advance.
Algorithm Updates | | CommercePundit1 -
How do you determine if Google thinks you’re guilty of Key Word Stuffing?
I believe that Google sees our website: www.getyourphotosoncanvas.com/
Algorithm Updates | | rdominey
as being guilty of keyword stuffing. I don’t see any specific tools on SEOmoz
that will evaluate Keyword Density as viewed by Google. Just to be clear; I have not attempted to use KWS as a SEO tactic. I feel that the
content of each page is written for the customer. I do realize that Google may
see it differently. I think that I am being penalized for the use of the words
Photo and Canvas. My domain name is “GetYourPhotosonCanvas.com” The business
name is “Get Your Photos on Canvas”, the website title is “Get Your Photos on Canvas”, and each page of our website talks about Photos and Canvas. I have tried to
vary the use of Photo with Pictures, Photographs, Prints, Digital Images and so
on. It is difficult to vary the word Canvas. I guess according to Google this paragraph
would be guilt of Keyword Stuffing! I have conducted some tests on other SEO site tools and some indicate that KWS is
a problem on my website. If you search a specific page title that contains either Photo or Canvas it does
not rank in the top 200 on Google, although it is #1 or #2 on Yahoo or Bing. Drop those two Keywords and the page shows up
as #2 on Google. I think that is a good indication that we are being penalized
for KWS. Pease take a look at our website and give me your opinion/advice regarding the Key
Word Stuffing Issue. Do I need to rewrite my site content for Google?0 -
Panda Update: Need your expertise...
Hi all, After Panda update our website lost about 45% of it's traffic from Google. It wasn't an instant drop mostly it happened gradually over the last 5 months. Our keywords (all of them except the domain name) started to lose positions from top #10 to now 40+ and all recovery attempts we have done so far didn't really help. At this moment it would be great to get some advice from the top experts like you here. What we have done so far is that We have gone through the all pages and removed the duplicate / redundant ones. We have refresh the content on the main pages and also all pages now have an canonical tags. Our website is www.PrintCountry.com. Thank you very much in advance for your time.
Algorithm Updates | | gbssinc0 -
Google removing pages from Index for Panda effected sites?
We have several clients that we took over from other SEO firms in the last 6 months. We are seeing an odd trend. Links are disappearing from the reports. Not just the SEOmoz reports, but all the back link reports we use. Also... sites that pre Panda would show up as a citation or link, have not been showing up. Many are these are not Indexed, and are on large common Y.P or other type sites. Any one think Google is removing pages from the Index on sites based on Panda. Yours in all curiosity. PS ( we are not large enough to produce quantity data on this.)
Algorithm Updates | | MBayes0