October 15, 2014: Three weeks ago, Google began deploying Panda 4.1 — the latest iteration of its algorithm aimed at low-quality web sites. Many sites — especially “thin content” sites whose page content consisted mainly of affiliate and/or advertising links, have reported major traffic and ranking reductions.
As in earlier Panda updates, many webmasters witnessed — just before their rankings crashed — what SEO Glenn Cabe has called “the sinister surge.” Cabe’s excellent site provides in-depth analysis into other aspects of Google’s complex spam regulation algorithm ecosystem. The information in this article is based on his original research.
This surge in Google traffic was not — as webmasters hoped — a result of their successful optimization efforts. Instead, it was simply Google sending more traffic to them in order to evaluate whether people were actually engaging with these sites, or hitting the back button a few seconds after landing there. Sites that failed to perform well in these tests were added to the list of sites targeted by Panda 4.1.
Staying out of Panda’s clutches isn’t Rocket Science; just a matter of applying common sense to your Web pages. Ask yourself the following questions — if any of your answers are “Yes” you may be inviting a destructive encounter with Panda.
PANDA 4.1 SURVIVAL CHECKLIST
1. Are the web pages on my site simply there to route people to affiliates? Such sites were very popular a few years back. But they’re dangerous to maintain today.
2. Are the web pages on my site simply there to collect ad revenue? Panda — and for that matter all of Google’s known anti-spam algorithms — don’t give sites running Adsense code any kind of “pass.” Check your ad to editorial ratio. It’s far better to forego a bit of ad revenue to avoid the risk of a Panda whack to your rankings.
3. Are there pages on my site (or on affiliate sites I direct people to) that are completely blank or have zero/minimal content on them? Delete any pages that are blank or have only a couple of hundred words on them. Chances are you’re not getting any traffic or inbound links to these pages anyway.
4. Have I over-optimized my HTML? While an occasional example of rich anchor linking is cool, hosting too many of them is an indication of overoptimization, an unforgiveable Panda sin.
5. Am I deceiving people by embedding affiliate links (instead of editorial links) in my editorial content? Affiliate links aren’t always bad, but again, they’re tip-offs that your linking strategy is being driven by monetization, not any service to your site’s users.
6. Is my bounce rate rising? Given that the “phantom updates” that happen prior to a Panda downgrade appear to incorporate bounce rate as a material metric, monitor bounce rate carefully, and make sure it isn’t spiking in a positive direction.
7. Do I force pop-ups on my visitors? Pop-ups, interstitials, and other code thrown in the way of users aren’t good things in Panda’s eyes. Use these interrupted devices with extreme care; better still, don’t use them at all.
8. Are there security issues with my web site?
9. Is my copy poorly written?
10. Am I thinking about my needs more than the needs of my visitors?
Answering “No” to each and every one of the questions indicates that you’re safe from Panda (to check to see if you’re safe from Penguin, evaluate your link profile). If, however, you answered “Yes,” don’t despair — you may still have time to get become Panda-compliant. Remember — Panda is designed to weed out content mill/farm-style operations that churn out pages that have no utility for human beings. As long as the content you’re producing has actual value to people, and provided that you’ve resisted the temptation to deceive, over-monetize, or over-optimize, you’ll be OK.
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