Anyone
that is involved within the search industry will recognise these two
infamous Google updates that have shaken the whole ranking system
dramatically since their introduction. Both the Panda and Penguin
updates have affected rankings for a large number of websites, so much
so that many sites are still suffering the effects today. By identifying
what the algorithm changes are meant to combat, it is possible to alter
your search marketing campaign in a way that not only defends against
the updates, but can benefit your site from them.
During this time, we found many methods that could reduce the impact of the update, as well as reverse them. The nature of the algorithm is to target spammy sites full of duplicated content or what’s commonly known as content farms. These sites were often low quality ones and necessitates a lot of time wading through the subpar, irrelevant content to get to the information you actually require. Sites that had duplicated content were often affected, even though they weren’t actually ‘content farms’.
In addition to this, there was also a number of websites that lost positions, even though they didn’t have anything wrong with their content. This occurred because another site would copy their content. For some reason, and through their own error, Google identified the site with the copied content as the original author of the content. Meaning that this lead to the true original author site loosing rankings from penalties. There is an array of methods and techniques that can be implemented to prevent this.
Panda was a lasting update in the sense that it was well over a year ago that it was first introduced and sites are still being affected by it today. There have been numerous revisions and updates to the Panda algorithm since, the latest being “Panda 3.8” released on June 25th, 2012. Google claimed that this latest update affected less than 1% of all results, although ranking fluctuation data would suggest otherwise.
From our experiences (plus hours of research and testing), we were able to determine the main factors affected by Penguin and then adapt the campaign to counter these. The most targeted and punished factor was definitely an unethical backlink profile. An unethical backlink profile can be built through means of irrelevant, bought, spammy, bulk links and more. A lot of the sites affected didn’t even know they were going to be targeted.
The main element that you need to focus on is where you receive your backlinks from. Always try to go for relevant and high authority links because they are the most important kinds of links in Google’s eyes. You have to conform to the guidelines when it comes to linking, more strictly than anything else.
Penguin may not be as old as Panda, but it is still affecting a lot of results and appears as though it will for some time to come too. The initial Penguin update was rumoured to have only affected an estimated 3.1% of all English search queries. Since then, there have been 3-4 major updates to the algorithm which is currently at version 1.1.
In order to get a website ranking in Google now, you have to use more ethical techniques than you once did. These methods are more genuine and make for a far greater user experience. With the quantity of low quality sites drastically dropping, the whole internet is benefiting from the updates. Following the Google guidelines is the only sure-fire way to know that you are operating purely ethical methods, which in turn helps Google with their main ideal and goal. The purpose of Google is to provide users with the best and most relevant results based on their search queries. Well, with Panda and Penguin, people are being forced to produce sites and content that are genuinely relevant, informative and most of all, useful.
If you’ve been affected by either Panda or Penguin, then please don’t hesitate to get in contact with Weblinx as we have developed tried and tested techniques to regain your top rankings.
Google Panda
Released in February 2011(but hitting Europe in April), Google’s Panda algorithm update is one of the most recognised and industry famous updates to date. It is one that saw around 80% of all search queries being affected. There were thousands of websites that were dropping and rising within the rankings. As an adaptive a professional SEO company, Weblinx got straight to work in identifying the reasons for loss in rankings and how to avoid/rectify the issue.
During this time, we found many methods that could reduce the impact of the update, as well as reverse them. The nature of the algorithm is to target spammy sites full of duplicated content or what’s commonly known as content farms. These sites were often low quality ones and necessitates a lot of time wading through the subpar, irrelevant content to get to the information you actually require. Sites that had duplicated content were often affected, even though they weren’t actually ‘content farms’.
In addition to this, there was also a number of websites that lost positions, even though they didn’t have anything wrong with their content. This occurred because another site would copy their content. For some reason, and through their own error, Google identified the site with the copied content as the original author of the content. Meaning that this lead to the true original author site loosing rankings from penalties. There is an array of methods and techniques that can be implemented to prevent this.
Panda was a lasting update in the sense that it was well over a year ago that it was first introduced and sites are still being affected by it today. There have been numerous revisions and updates to the Panda algorithm since, the latest being “Panda 3.8” released on June 25th, 2012. Google claimed that this latest update affected less than 1% of all results, although ranking fluctuation data would suggest otherwise.
Google Penguin
Another, more recent but just as impacting, update was released by Google on April 24th, 2012. This was the first “Over Optimisation Penalty” that Google had been dropping rumours about for months. It was known as the “Webspam Update” but then later dubbed as the “Penguin Update”. Penguin was designed to target an array of spam factors from onsite and offsite SEO. Common factors that lead to Penguin penalising a site were overly optimising the pages, keyword stuffing and excessive link building practises.
From our experiences (plus hours of research and testing), we were able to determine the main factors affected by Penguin and then adapt the campaign to counter these. The most targeted and punished factor was definitely an unethical backlink profile. An unethical backlink profile can be built through means of irrelevant, bought, spammy, bulk links and more. A lot of the sites affected didn’t even know they were going to be targeted.
The main element that you need to focus on is where you receive your backlinks from. Always try to go for relevant and high authority links because they are the most important kinds of links in Google’s eyes. You have to conform to the guidelines when it comes to linking, more strictly than anything else.
Penguin may not be as old as Panda, but it is still affecting a lot of results and appears as though it will for some time to come too. The initial Penguin update was rumoured to have only affected an estimated 3.1% of all English search queries. Since then, there have been 3-4 major updates to the algorithm which is currently at version 1.1.
Conclusion
Although Penguin isn’t as large or infamous as Panda, it is only a few months old and there is still plenty of time for it to attack websites. Combined, the two updates have dramatically changed a lot of search queries. In less than two years, the techniques that used to get websites ranking highly have been deemed irrelevant and get websites penalised. This proves just how quickly this industry is changing. That’s not to say that the changes aren’t welcome. In my opinion, Panda and Penguin have done great things for the search results.
In order to get a website ranking in Google now, you have to use more ethical techniques than you once did. These methods are more genuine and make for a far greater user experience. With the quantity of low quality sites drastically dropping, the whole internet is benefiting from the updates. Following the Google guidelines is the only sure-fire way to know that you are operating purely ethical methods, which in turn helps Google with their main ideal and goal. The purpose of Google is to provide users with the best and most relevant results based on their search queries. Well, with Panda and Penguin, people are being forced to produce sites and content that are genuinely relevant, informative and most of all, useful.
If you’ve been affected by either Panda or Penguin, then please don’t hesitate to get in contact with Weblinx as we have developed tried and tested techniques to regain your top rankings.
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