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
-
How often does Google review Featured Snippets? What do you think?
Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows how often Google review Featured Snippets and if there is a way to find out? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | Chris29181 -
Google Panda July 2016
Hi Does anyone know what impact the recent slow Panda roll out may have? Obviously content, but would it perhaps include engagement/user behaviour factors regarding your on page content too? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | BeckyKey0 -
Was I hit by panda or penguin?
My site, graciousbridal.com was hit pretty hard by google at the end of April. I actually noticed our traffic decreasing around February, then towards the end of April, it got really bad. Our sales this may were half of what they were in may 2011. We have never done any black or gray hat seo, wouldn't even know how to. I know in the past we did blog commenting, but changed up our keywords so it wasn't all the same, maybe we didn't change it enough?? We have another very similar site that I'm now wondering if we were penalized because they are too similar. We always have changed up the copy, but they have most of the same products. This second site barely gets traffic or sales and has about half of the items graciousbridal does. But, I'm wondering now if it's to similar and that is why we were penalized. I can't figure out what we did wrong to have this big of a drop. I really need help with this as this is supposed to be our busiest season of the year. Any advice or direction is greatly appreciated..
Algorithm Updates | | Craig2100 -
ECommerce site being "filtered" by last Panda update, ideas and discussion
Hello fellow internet go'ers! Just as a disclaimer, I have been following a number of discussions, articles, posts, etc. trying to find a solution to this problem, but have yet to get anything conclusive. So I am reaching out to the community for help. Before I get into the questions I would like to provide some background: I help a team manage and improve a number of med-large eCommerce websites. Traffic ranges anywhere from 2K - 12K+ (per day) depending on the site. Back in March one of our larger sites was "filtered" from Google's search results. I say "filtered" because we didn't receive any warnings and our domain was/is still listed in the first search position. About 2-3 weeks later another site was "filtered", and then 1-2 weeks after that, a third site. We have around ten niche sites (in total), about seven of them share an identical code base (about an 80% match). This isn't that uncommon, since we use a CMS platform to manage all of our sites that holds hundreds of thousands of category and product pages. Needless to say, April was definitely a frantic month for us. Many meetings later, we attributed the "filter" to duplicate content that stems from our product data base and written content (shared across all of our sites). We decided we would use rel="canonical" to address the problem. Exactly 30 days from being filtered our first site bounced back (like it was never "filtered"), however, the other two sites remain "under the thumb" of Google. Now for some questions: Why would only 3 of our sites be affected by this "filter"/Panda if many of them share the same content? Is it a coincidence that it was an exact 30 day "filter"? Why has only one site recovered?
Algorithm Updates | | WEB-IRS1 -
What do you think Google analyzes for SERP ranking?
I've been doing some research trying to figure out how the Google algorithm works. The one thing that is constant is that nothing is constant. This makes me believe that Google takes a variable that all sites have and divides it by that number. One example would be taking the load time in MS and dividing it by the total number or points the website scored. This would give all of the websites a random appearance since there that variable would throw off all the other constants. I'm going to continue doing research but I was wondering what you guys think matters in the Google Algorithm. -Shane
Algorithm Updates | | Seoperior0 -
Has anyone recovered from Panda?
My two websites were unaffected by the original and 2.0 panda updates, but istring in June my traffic has been down around 30%. In analyzing it appears that my long tail searches have been greatly impacted. So it looks like I am a victim of the mighty panda.My main site, www.uncontesteddivorce-nyc.com is in my opinion a decent looking site, with unique content and no ads, etc., but for whatever reason it has been negatively affected. There might be some duplication of content between certain pages and also my links are all or practically all directory links, though a lot are pretty heavy duty directories. I see a lot of stuff written giving advice on how to recover from Panda. Has anyone actually done so? How did you do it? thx Paul
Algorithm Updates | | diogenes1 -
Google Panda Update - google.com.br ( brazil )
Hello folks, Someone know if google run their panda update in brazil ( www.google.com.br ), this week? Coz I can see a interesting boost in my google traffic sources. Thank you.
Algorithm Updates | | augustos0 -
Was I Kicked Off Google Page One by Panda/Farmer?
Took over this site in March. Got a Panicked call from client Mid-March that all of a sudden keywords that put the site on Page One weren't working. There are still 9 that work, but apparently there were more. A large percentage of the backlinks are from Article Directories and Link Farms. Is this my problem? Also, a large percentage of the 149 pages suffer from keyword stuffing and were obviously written for Search Engines and not people. How much of a difference does that make?
Algorithm Updates | | reeljerc0