A Complete Guide to Google Panda Algorithm and How to Recover from Its Penalties
What is Google Panda Algorithm and why was it created? How can you avoid its penalties? The purpose of algorithms is to find the most suitable and relevant content among millions of pieces of information on various websites for the user’s search query. In this article, we will introduce the Panda algorithm in detail and familiarize you with all aspects of this algorithm.
What is Google Panda Algorithm?
Google’s Panda algorithm was created to prevent the spread of undesirable and low-quality content in search results. For Google, fulfilling user needs is a top business priority. Google always aims to provide users with information that meets their needs. Offering useful, up-to-date, well-researched, and scientific information to users is what keeps Google’s business thriving.
The founder of the website Search Engine Land initially named this update FARMER. However, Google later acknowledged that this algorithm had been called “Panda” from the beginning. Before the launch of the Panda algorithm, users complained about the poor, weak, and irrelevant content of the websites appearing in Google’s search results. To address this issue, Google designed the Panda algorithm.
The main task of the Panda algorithm is to classify search results based on the quality of website content. The quality of content is measured by user behavior. Websites affected by the Panda algorithm and that have seen a decline in their rankings can take various actions to recover from the Google penalty and improve their rankings. These actions include improving user interface elements such as revamping pages with low-quality content, adding high-quality content, and removing excessively repeated keywords.
What was the Purpose of Creating the Panda Algorithm?
In 2010, the low quality of website content and the rapid growth of content farms led to severe user criticism. In the meantime, the launch of the Caffeine algorithm in 2009 significantly increased Google’s indexing power, causing low-quality information to be indexed more quickly. All these events put Google’s business, which relies on meeting users’ needs for keyword searches, at risk of collapse.
Google ultimately managed to address this dissatisfaction by designing the Panda algorithm, which ranked the quality of content displayed in search results. Now, creating high-quality text content that meets user needs has become a fundamental value for Google.
Updates to Google Panda Algorithm
Google first introduced the Panda algorithm on February 23, 2011. On February 24 of the same year, Google posted an update claiming a major algorithmic revolution in its ranking system. They stated that the change could affect 11.8% of queries (search phrases entered by users). The post read: “Low-quality content does not provide any useful information to the user or add knowledge. Also, much of the website content is copied from other websites. This algorithm will improve the ranking of websites with unique, useful, and original content.”
After this update, content farms like eHow and wikiHow were forced to improve their performance. Subsequent updates were even stricter, targeting not only low-quality content but also acceptable content. The Panda algorithm spared no site, and those with the following issues lost their good positions in the search results:
- Bad and offensive designs
- Excessive advertisements that devalue the real content
- Overuse of keywords on pages
- Grammatical and spelling errors
- Repetitive sentences and texts
- Low-quality and unreliable content
How to Identify If You’ve Been Penalized by the Panda Algorithm
A possible sign of a Panda penalty is a sudden drop in organic traffic or a decline in website rankings, which should coincide with the date of a Panda algorithm update.
It’s essential to note that many factors can affect a site’s ranking and traffic, so not every drop can be attributed to a Panda penalty. For example:
- New Competitors: The emergence of a new competitor in your market might lead to decreased traffic on your site. In this case, you need to identify who is leading and advancing ahead of you in the market.
- Seasonal Changes: Sometimes, ranking or traffic drops occur due to seasonal or situational changes. For example, heating equipment has fewer searches and popularity during warmer months. To be sure, it’s best to check Google Search Console for reported issues.
- Algorithm Updates: A completely different update might have caused your ranking to drop, unrelated to the Panda algorithm.
Panda penalties are site-wide, meaning that even if a small part of your site has weak, unreliable, or spammy content, the entire site will be penalized.
When a new update is released, it’s crucial to read the industry documentation that will be involved in the update. If your ranking drop coincides with the update date, identify the poor practices that the algorithm considers bad and see if they exist on your site. If you find a correlation, take steps to rectify the situation.
How to Recover from a Panda Algorithm Penalty?
Recovering from a Panda algorithm penalty is a long but straightforward process. As mentioned earlier, Panda places a high value on quality content and boosts the performance of sites with high-quality and reliable content. Therefore, the simplest solution is to improve the quality and uniqueness of your website’s content. While it’s easier said than done, it has been proven time and again to be the most effective solution for lifting a penalty.
Example 1: Some sites have identified their low-quality content based on bounce rate, exit rate, and time spent on site, and have removed them. In addition, short content has been removed, and the existing content has been reviewed for quality. With these three simple, albeit time-consuming actions, a site has recovered from a penalty.
Example 2: Others have opted to rewrite low-value pages instead of removing them, which is a more thorough and reliable method.
Example 3: Another site took a creative approach to bypass this lengthy process. Instead of writing content themselves, they asked their users to contribute content for the low-quality pages!
What Factors Does the Panda Algorithm Review?
Here are some of the key factors evaluated by the Panda algorithm:
Thin Content
The presence of very weak content with minimal written text and no credible sources on websites.
Duplicate Content
Content that appears in more than one location. This issue can also occur within a single website, such as when your site has five pages with similar sentences written with slight variations on each page.
Content Quality
Content that adds very little knowledge to its readers. Low-quality content provides no valuable information to the audience.
Trustworthiness
Refers to content whose sources are not definite or reliable. To avoid a Panda penalty, websites must strive to be recognized as authoritative sources in their industry, allowing users to trust them and share their personal information comfortably.
Content Farm
Refers to pages with very low-quality content collected from other sites. Such websites usually hire content producers who create extensive and poor-quality content for low wages. These websites aim to appear in search results for every query users search for, regardless of content quality.
Low-Quality User-Generated Content
Websites that publish guest blog posts with short sentences lacking credible information, often resembling personal opinions more than informative content.
High Ad-to-Content Ratio
Pages filled with paid advertisements with very little actual content.
Over-Optimization
Content that is well-optimized and relevant can be an important factor in achieving a high ranking in search results. Over-optimization refers to the excessive use of SEO factors that are supposed to improve the site’s ranking. In such cases, over-optimization can seriously harm the site’s ranking. It can prevent your audience from seeing the real value of your content, negatively impacting your natural ranking.
User Signals
Many human users block numerous websites directly or through a Chrome extension. This is mainly due to the very low quality of the content.
Irrelevance to User Queries
Pages that show something different in the anchor text, leading users to expect relevant answers but finding none upon clicking. For instance, a website claiming discounts for a festival, but upon opening, there are no discount coupons.
What is the Difference Between Panda and Penguin Algorithms?
The fundamental difference between Google’s Panda and Penguin algorithms is that Panda targets spammy websites, while Penguin addresses inappropriate linking and keyword stuffing.
To recover from a Panda penalty, the only way is to update your website and remove all useless low-quality pages. You should also review over-optimized pages and improve brand awareness by starting new campaigns and utilizing social media.
On the other hand, to recover from a Penguin penalty, you must abandon black hat SEO techniques and correct the following issues:
- Excessive Link Building
- Keyword Stuffing
- Irrelevant and Meaningless Content
In other words, the Panda update is a filter designed to penalize low-quality or thin content rankings, whereas Penguin is a filter designed to penalize websites using bad linking techniques and keyword abuse.
Final Thoughts
As the world of information becomes more complex, Google continuously strives to provide fresh and first-hand information to its users. The Panda algorithm was developed for this very purpose. It is crucial that your business is not affected by this algorithm to avoid penalties. Always aim to produce high-quality content, use legal methods, and attract audience interest.
