Starting towards the end of February 2011, Google made two large changes to its algorithm. These changes were initially called the Google Farmer Update, but the latest nickname used for this algorithm update is the Panda Update. These changes were largely made to target spam websites and other “low-quality” websites. Matt Cutts of Google states: “This update is designed to reduce rankings for low quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.”
There were a few major companies that faced demoted rankings due to their ‘black hat” SEO techniques, including link farming and similar activities. These companies included JCPenney, Forbes and Overstock.com.
One of the areas included in Google’s update is the analysis of the quality of links included on the site. It is important to consider the site of which you are exchanging the links. Is this a “high-quality” site? If not, don’t link to it, or you may be harming your own site.
Site content is another large component of the “Panda” update. Google has really started to look at the type of content that is included on a site. Site’s can be demoted for duplicated content, lack of original content, low visit times on a page, high bounce rates and many other attributes.
Search engines change and update their algorithms a few times each year. As experts in search engine marketing and search engine optimization, our marketing team at Faster Solutions stays up to date on algorithm changes to make sure that your site is always set up to be successful in the search engines!
