impact of google’s panda update on content | seo.com webinar 4-19-12

Impact of Google’s Panda Update on Content

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David MalmborgSenior SEO Manager – SEO.com

PANDA Just Kung Fu’ed My Site


WHY?

• The complaint came from content farms dominating the SERPs. – LOW QUALITY– THIN– Perfectly optimized for long tail questions– Ad-ridden pages with content buried


Remember what it was like before Panda?

• If you searched “How to do …” your results may have looked like this:

Along came Panda

• Named after Navneet Panda (Google Extraordinaire)

• Launched February 24, 2011• Implemented a way for Google

to separate high-quality Sites from low-quality Sites.

• Google implements “machine learning” into the algorithm.


BIG CHANGE

• Panda changed about 12% of the SERPS

88,000,000,000 x 12% = 1,056,000,000 Search Results Changed


History of the updates• Panda 1.0: February 24, 2011• Panda 2.0: April 11, 2011• Panda 2.1: May 10, 2011• Panda 2.2: June 16, 2011• Panda 2.3: July 23, 2011• Panda 2.4: August 12, 2011• Panda 2.5: September 28, 2011

– Panda 2.5.1: October 9, 2011– Panda 2.5.2: October 13, 2011

• Panda 3.0: October 19, 2011• Panda 3.1: November 18, 2011• Panda 3.2: January 18, 2012• Panda 3.3: February 27, 2012• Panda 3.4: March 23, 2012


What does Panda look at?


No one knows, but there are ideas.

A site as a whole is judged, which is new.

Content quality thresholds are introduced.

Site visitor metrics can directly affect your rankings.

Google’s Questions• Would you trust the information presented in this article?• Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more

shallow in nature?• Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics

with slightly different keyword variations?• Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?• Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?• Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate

content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?• Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research,

or original analysis?• Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?• Does the article describe both sides of a story?• Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?• Is the content mass produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread

across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?


Google’s Questions• Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?• For a health-related query, would you trust information from this site?• Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?• Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?• Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond

obvious?• Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?• Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with

the main content?• Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?• Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?• Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to

detail?• Would users complain when they see pages from this site?


Categorize these questions

• These questions fall into four main categories – Authority– Trust– Authenticity– Quality


Authority

• Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?

• Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?• Would you recognize this site as an

authoritative source when mentioned by name?


Trust

• Would you trust the information presented in this article?

• Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?

• For a health-related query, would you trust information from this site?

• Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?

• Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?


Authenticity

• Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?

• Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?

• Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?

• Is the content mass produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?

• Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?


Quality• Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?• How much quality control is done on content?• Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?• Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in

search results?• Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?• Does the article describe both sides of a story?• Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is

beyond obvious?• Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere

with the main content?• Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention

to detail?• Would users complain when they see pages from this site?


Possible metrics Google looks at

• Authority– Google+– Rel=“author”– Social Profiles and Connections:

http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=165228

– Brand mentions on the Web, and brand marketing– CTR from the SERPs

• How do you build subject authority?Tweet @SEOcom questions - Hashtag #seowebinar


• Trust– Social shares– Authoritative site links to your site– Conversion rates

• How does a site build credibility?



• Authenticity– Duplicate content

• Content silos• Scraping• Repeated content• Internally and externally

– Content originates from your site– Site is topical in structure

• Can your site answer every “How to…” question?

– Is your content being fed by a network?– Number of source links back to your site

• Could you be more authentic in your content strategy?



• Quality– Content improvements – Changes, edits, and revisions with different crawls– Rich media is found on the page– Bounce rate of the page– Number of pages viewed– Length of stay– Content is not regurgitated– Content vs. ad ratio– Grammar and spelling issues (Would Word underline the whole

document?)– Fact checks against other sites

• How can you make your stuff better?


What is Panda looking at?

• Authority• Trust• Authenticity• Quality


Questions?

Thanks!!!

David MalmborgSenior SEO Manager

Twitter: http://twitter.com/davidmalmborg LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmalmborg

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impact of google’s panda update on content | seo.com webinar 4-19-12

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