A new update has been rolled out by Google 17 hours ago duped as Google Panda Update 4.0 and it is said to be a very delicate update.
Matt Cutts, Google’s Head of Webspam, announced the release of Panda 4.0 update via the all-time-famous channel of his, Twitter.
Google is rolling out our Panda 4.0 update starting today.
‘” Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) May 20, 2014
And almost instantly, it took the whole search engine world by storm (as expected). Various authority sites reported both improvement and reduction in search visibility.
@MarketingLand Google updates “Panda” filter, impacts 7.5% of search results. Source.
It was quoted from Google that “Panda 4.0 affects different languages to different degrees” and “In English for example, the impact is ~7.5% of queries that are affected to a degree that a regular user might notice.”
History showed that this is possible the biggest Google Panda update since Panda 6 on 11th April 2011 (impacted 6 – 9% of search queries internationally).
Even Moz weather sees an extremely high temperature during that day.
Winners and losers of Google Panda 4.0
Data were collected by Search Metrics to determine the effect of Google Panda 4.0. Here are some of the initial stats.
Top sites which are suspected being affected by Panda 4.0:
Top sites who benefit from Panda 4.0:
Google Panda 4.0 is said to be ‘softer’ and and ‘delicate’
Let’s face the fact.
Not every Google update is beneficial for us. Sometime, we get affected by Google updates even when we are doing nothing wrong.
This particular update is meant to be a basis for future adjustments to the Google algorithm. Or least, that’s what Google wants us to believe in.
Until Google releases a new announcement (which is highly unlikely), we are left in the dark and playing the guessing game.
Preliminary analysis of Google Panda 4.0 Update
What have we learned from Panda 4.0?
One of the biggest analysis I personally seen is sites with lesser content loses visibility and search ranking.
This means that sites need originality and tons of quality articles (for starters).
For example, majority of the sites listed in the ‘affected lists’ are mainly ranked with information from external sources.
But again, bear in mind that Google Panda 4.0 has just been rolled out and would easily take weeks to see the real results in the SERPs.
Personally, Google Panda 4.0 could be a good update with the assumption that it is learning from previous update mistakes.
How to be safe from Google Panda 4.0 Update?
There isn’t any visible or proven techniques yet but it is definitely safe to say that you should avoid using:
- Syndicated content
- Duplicate content
- Low quality content
- Spam contents
We all know that Google loves quality content and planning your blogging strategy is extremely important from now onwards.
Personally, staying safe and playing with Google rules is probably the best way for this short period to avoid Google penalization.
What do you think about Google Panda Update 4.0? Does it affect you in anyway? Fire up what you have in mind using the comment form below.
