What are the Google Penguin and Panda updates?

You may have heard of Google’s Penguin and Panda updates. And no, they are nothing to do with animals. Over the past few years, Google has issued updates to their algorithms (codenamed Panda and Penguin) which were released in a bid to keep search engine results relevant and of a high quality. These updates are constantly rolling out. 

The updates have proved to be quite controversial as Google promised that only a small number of sites would see a drop in web traffic, but lots of businesses have been affected and some of those that didn’t have expert help were crushed altogether.

Google's Panda algorithm

Panda was created to improve the quality of Google search results. Google aimed to penalise ‘content farms’; e.g. sites producing large amounts of content specifically to attract traffic from search engines and using those page views to generate easy advertising revenues sites. It also targeted sites with lower quality, older content that had been duplicated elsewhere on the web. Copyscape is a good free tool which you can use to check that your content isn’t being used elsewhere.

The best way to deal with the Panda update is to create new and unique content that gives value to the reader. Ask yourself: "What does my content do for people who find it?" Does it help them, educate them or engage them in some way?

Ideas for content could include how-to guides, expert opinions, Q&A’s or useful lists. This type of content is more likely to be shared by your readers via social media too, giving your site even more credibility.

Google's Penguin algorithm

Penguin took it a step further and began looking at the links coming in and out of a website. Google is always cracking down on this common black hat SEO practice of abusing links to gain search engine rankings.

Penguin sought to decrease rankings for websites that engaged in dubious link exchanges, unnatural links and sites that relied on too many of the same anchor text links, where targeted keyword phrases are hyperlinked. If you paid for links from lots of dubious, low-quality link directories, link exchanges and other sites, you may have felt the Penguin slap.

Check how many links you’re receiving from a single website by using Ahrefs.com. If you’re receiving hundreds of links from a single website this could be a red flag.

The result is that it's now more important than ever to have link quality and diversity. Earn "natural" links from a variety of other quality sites because you've posted compelling, useful content.

As you can see, there is a much greater emphasis on good quality, regular content. We offer an ongoing content service, delivering you fresh blog posts to upload to your website using best practice SEO and trained copywriters. If you would like to know more, contact us on 01743 272609 or email studio@vibecreative.co.uk.