Late last week an announcement was made from Google, via Pierre Far on Google+, that they have “started a slow rollout of an improved Panda algorithm” that has already been dubbed Panda 4.1. This rollout should be completed sometime later this week, and will affect between 3-5% of Google search results.
This release appears to have a multi-faceted set of goals. As with all previous Panda releases the primary goal here appears to be targeting websites that contain thin low-quality content and reducing their visibility in search and as with previous Panda releases there appears to targeted types of content (more on this in a moment).
With this release, Google appears to have been using feedback from users and webmasters to better identify signals that contribute to low quality content, and thus also provides signals to find better higher quality content that deserves better visibility. Far on his Google+ announcement notes that this “results in a greater diversity of high-quality small- and medium-sized sites ranking higher.” So there is certainly a reward factor here in this update.
The last goal that Panda 4.1 appears to be doing is to recheck sites that had previously been hit by 4.0 (and possibly older versions as well) and provide them with higher visibility if they have made attempts to improve their site quality.
As to just who the winners and losers are in 4.1, we already are seeing signals as to who the core targets of this update were via SearchMetrics. As with previous Google algorithm updates, SearchMetrics has already put together a list of winners and losers even as Panda continues to rollout.
SearchMetrics notes that Panda 4.1 this time around has been targeting sites that include lyrics websites and sites that collect but do not create medical issue information – essentially continuing their approach of reducing visibility for websites that focus almost exclusively on aggregated content.
Meanwhile, sites that SearchMetrics is seeing get a boost continues to be news sites and content sites that generate unique content around specific topics such as glamour.com and also include a few sites that were previously hit such as ivillage.com and spoonful.com
As Panda 4.1 is still rolling out, your websites may not have affected yet. Keep a close eye on your analytics data and Google Webmaster Tools search queries starting from about September 24th through the end of this week for any noticeable change.
Remember, this is not the last time we’ll be seeing updates of the Panda variety. If you have not already looked at opportunities to improve the quality of your site’s content now is the perfect time to finally get cracking!
[Source: Pierre Far / Google+]
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