Panda updates from Google have ceased for 2011 and will resume in early 2012. The move left search engine industry watchers speculating over why the Panda updates have stopped, and what’s in store for 2012?
Panda Update Shutdown Theories
Some industry insiders think that the move may have been designed to help web retailers during the busy Christmas week. But with Christmas less than a week away, it’s a little late to be ordering gifts online. Others believe that the announcement was designed as a shot over the bow to give webmasters a final chance to update content before the next big Panda update in 2012.
But there’s likely a more prosaic reasoning behind Google’s actions this week. The fact is Google has been updating its search algorithms on an almost daily basis all year, though few of the updates are really significant. In all likelihood, the announcement is just what it appears to be a very ordinary, “We’re done working until after the holidays,” message.
But the furor over the announcement underscores the importance of Google and their mysterious algorithms to the online business world.
Panda Rocks SEO World
Google’s Panda update first came online in February of 2011 and had an immediate impact on affiliate sites and, so-called, content farms. At the time, Google said that the algorithm changes were aimed at scraper sites that were reusing content without permission. But no matter what their intent, the impact on sites with low quality content was immediate and severe.
According to Google, the new changes only impacted around 12% of the site’s 3 billion daily searches. Most businesses didn’t notice the changes at all, but many affiliate sites saw a lot less traffic from the moment Panda hit the streets. That begs the question, was that really such a bad thing?
Quality Content is King
Despite complaints from affiliates Panda did not impact sites that were already coming up with fresh, high quality content. In fact, Panda is great news for all webmasters because it rewards top notch content. And if you’ve got articles and blog posts that customers want to read, they’ll return to your site over and over to read them.
Google is a company that takes quality very seriously and they’ve made it very clear that poor quality content will no longer be rewarded. Panda, and all its subsequent updates, are a loud warning to webmasters to step up their game; quit scraping content and packing keywords; and give their customers worthwhile information.
Read more about what Google Panda meant for gaming affiliates in 2011.