It appears that Google has recently released a version 4.0 of the Google Panda algorithm.
As this is a new version in it's own right as opposed to a monthly update or refresh, it would suggest that there has been a significant change in how the algorithm identifies each website.
The Google Panda algorithm is designed to monitor content in order to assist with quality SEO and ranking.
Google Panda 4.0 aims to filter "thin" content, especially from top ranking sites, which appears to have caused a great deal of bother to Press Release websites according to Barry Schwartz, searchengineland.com. "Thin" content relates to content that has little or no added value, i.e. duplicate or copied content, automatically generated content, minimal or low quality content and so on.
There has also been much debate on whether the Ebay ranking crash was due to Google Panda 4.0. It is unlikely that this will be confirmed, as I would predict that neither Ebay nor Google will be leaking information on what really happened. There are sites that discuss this event in further detail such as The Wire and Search Engine Roundtable.
So how can you avoid a Panda penalty?
- Be sure to stick to white hat SEO methods and don't stray to the dark side!
- Make sure your copy is written with your audience in mind, avoid keyword stuffing
- Focus on high quality, well written content that is relevant. If your content is irrelevant, short and doesn't offer anything of benefit to your audience, it is likely that it will result in a penalty or at least a low ranking and high bounce rate.
- Don't put pressure on yourself to release a blog/newsletter, if you don't have the content just wait till you do.
It is important to feed and nurture your website with fresh content on a regular basis in order to help SEO, but the main point here is that when you do it should always be copy that is of high quality and relevant.
If you have committed to a monthly newsletter but don't have the content just wait till next month. Your audience is more likely to read and click through if it is something that sparks their interest, if it's badly written, duplicate copy or uninformative it will not be worth the time and effort it took to release it in the first place.
'Panda Cub' by Marc Blickle available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/115267254@N07/12456893885 under a Creative Commons attribution 2.0. Full terms at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
