Google unrolled Panda 3.9.1 on Monday, though the impact of the once-feared update is fairly limited at this point.
According to a Tweet from Google’s official Twitter account, this latest refresh, once again, impacted around 1% of all queries. The last Panda refresh rolled out on July 24 and impacted a similarly small number of online searches.
Google regularly refreshes updates like Panda and Penguin to make minor tweaks and insure that they’re still effective.
No Longer Fearsome
The original Panda update went out back in February of 2011 and had a major impact on how SEOs marketed content. Panda, also known as the Farmer Update took aim at massive content mills that produced huge amounts of low quality, keyword-heavy articles for SEO purposes. Back then, it impacted almost 12% of queries and had a far ranging impact on the content industry.
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Fear the Penguin
As bad as Panda’s impact was on SEOs and gaming affiliates, it pales next to what they’ve endured under the Penguin update. The Penguin update specifically targeted very common SEO practices like link building and left many affiliate partners frantically removing links that had once been quite valuable.
Google’s Matt Cutts has warned than an upcoming Penguin update will be “jolting” and “jarring.” There’s no word on when that update will be coming. SEOs should expect to see another Panda update in a month or so.
Are you feeling the impact of the latest Panda refresh, or are you too concerned with Penguin to care? Share your thoughts in the comments section below this article.