In this presentation, Bill Hartzer covers the Google Panda update, engagement factors, social signals, and more of the latest Search Engine algorithm updates that everyone should know. We will also discuss how to effectively adjust your overall SEO strategy.
2. Overview
• What is Google Panda?
– Google Panda History
• Were You Hit by Panda?
– Recovering from Panda
• Google Panda Vs. Penguin
• What is Google Penguin?
– Google Penguin History
• Were You Hit by Penguin?
– Recovering from Penguin
Bill Hartzer, Director of SEO
Twitter: @standingdog and @bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/StandingDog
3. What is Google Panda?
• Ranking factor added to the Google algorithm
• Filter designed to identify ‘low quality pages’.
• Provides better rankings for high-quality sites
• Doesn't run continuously due to analysis processing
• Updates every 4 to 7 weeks
• Named after Google engineer Navneet Panda
Bill Hartzer, Director of SEO
Twitter: @standingdog and @bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/StandingDog
4. How Google Panda Was Developed
• Google Engineer came up with questions.
• Sent questions to human quality testers who rated sites
– Rated based on quality, design, trustworthiness, speed, and
whether or not they would return to site
– Google came up with definition of “low quality”
• Launched Personal Chrome Site Blocker extension earlier.
– Allowed users to specify sites they want blocked from search
results
• Compared data from both sources (Raters and Chrome Blocker),
and had 84 percent overlap, indicating on right track
• Came up with Classifier to indicate Low Quality vs. High Quality
Sites, to be used mathematically in Google Panda.
Bill Hartzer, Director of SEO
Twitter: @standingdog and @bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/StandingDog
5. Google Panda History
• Rolled Out to US sites around February 24, 2011
– http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/finding-more-high-quality-sites-
in.html
• Rolled out to Globally to all English language Users around
April 11, 2011
– Also began to roll out data from sites that users block
• Latest update Panda #20 — September 27, 2012
- 2.4% of queries affected, overlapped EMD update
Bill Hartzer, Director of SEO
Twitter: @standingdog and @bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/StandingDog
6. Google Panda Update History
• Panda/Farmer — February 23, 2011
• Panda 2.0 — April 11, 2011
• Panda 2.1 — May 9, 2011
• Panda 2.2 — June 21, 2011
• Panda 2.3 — July 23, 2011
• Panda Goes Global (2.4) — August 12, 2011
• Panda 2.5 — September 28, 2011
• Panda "Flux" — October 5, 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
• Panda 3.5 — April 19, 2012
• Panda 3.6 — April 27, 2012
• Panda 3.7 — June 8, 2012
• Panda 3.8 — June 25, 2012
• Panda 3.9 — July 24, 2012
• Panda 3.9.1 — August 20, 2012 See the Google Algorithm Change History:
• Panda 3.9.2 — September 18, 2012 http://www.seomoz.org/google-algorithm-change
• Panda #20 — September 27, 2012
Bill Hartzer, Director of SEO
Twitter: @standingdog and @bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/StandingDog
7. Were You Hit by Panda?
• Look at Web Analytics
• Sites affected had traffic loss starting in February, 2011.
• Google Analytics for your site (Web Trends, Omniture, etc.)
• Google Trends for any site (http://trends.google.com)
Bill Hartzer, Director of SEO
Twitter: @standingdog and @bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/StandingDog
8. Recovering from Panda
• Make sure all content on site is “high quality”
• Review Google’s List: 23 Questions to assess quality
– http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-
high-quality.html
• Identify and remove least-visited pages
on site via your web analytics
• Take out the trash, so to speak.
• Prevent Pogosticking from SERPs.
Bill Hartzer, Director of SEO
Twitter: @standingdog and @bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/StandingDog
9. Panda vs. Penguin
• Panda focuses on sites providing a bad user experience
– Sites with low quality content
• Penguin focuses on spamdexing and link bombing.
Bill Hartzer, Director of SEO
Twitter: @standingdog and @bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/StandingDog
10. What is Google Penguin?
• Google: “algorithm change targeted at webspam.”
– http://insidesearch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/another-step-to-reward-
high-quality.html
• Goal is to “decrease rankings for sites that violate Google’s
Quality Guidelines”.
– http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?
hl=en&answer=35769#3
• Examples:
– Keyword Stuffing, Over Optimization
– Unusual linking patterns (outgoing links)
Bill Hartzer, Director of SEO
Twitter: @standingdog and @bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/StandingDog
11. Google Penguin History
• First reported 4/24/2012
• Updated May 25, 2012 (Penguin 1.1)
• Penguin #3 — October 5, 2012
- impacted 0.3 percent of queries
Bill Hartzer, Director of SEO
Twitter: @standingdog and @bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/StandingDog
12. Were You Hit by Penguin?
• Panda April 19, Penguin April 24, Panda refresh 4/27
– Search Engine Journal: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/penguin-or-panda-
how-to-determine-which-google-algorithm-update-impacted-your-website/43751/
Bill Hartzer, Director of SEO
Twitter: @standingdog and @bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/StandingDog
13. Recovering from Penguin
• Perform a full SEO Audit of web site
– Identify and fix problem areas on site that violate Google
guidelines (keyword stuffing, over optimization, etc.)
• Review Google Webmaster Tools for messages, suggestions
• Perform full link analysis of site
– Download links from Majestic SEO, SEOMoz Open Site
Explorer, a hrefs, etc.
– Review anchor text, clean up links to site
• Work on Authority, Trust of your site
Bill Hartzer, Director of SEO
Twitter: @standingdog and @bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/StandingDog
14. Thank You
Bill Hartzer
Director of Search Engine Optimization
Standing Dog
www.StandingDog.com
Twitter: @StandingDog
Facebook: Facebook.com/standingdog
Personal Blog: www.BillHartzer.com
Twitter: @Bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/bhartzer
Bill Hartzer, Director of SEO
Twitter: @standingdog and @bhartzer
Facebook: Facebook.com/StandingDog