Google has revealed that for the first in 10 months, the Panda algorithm has been refreshed and is being rolled out this weekend.
There is no need to get too excited, or get yourself into a state of panic though as Google says that the update will actually take months to fully roll out, which is very different to previous updates which have been completed in a matter of days.
Google said this affected about 2%–3% of English language queries.
The last Panda refresh was reported in September 2014, which was believed to be the 28th update since the Panda algorithm was launched in February 2011.
What does this mean?
The rollout means that any website that has been penalized by Panda has a chance to recover if the correct changes have been implemented. Because of the nature of the slow rollout though, don’t expect recovery, or a penalty to be apparent overnight, it could be a gradual increase or decline.
Although the Panda algorithm is site-wide (meaning that even if your website does have high quality pages, it can be dragged down by issues such as an abundance of low quality content and other website issues), it is just one of 200+ ranking factors. This update may not be the sole reason for your websites increase or decline in search traffic.
If you believe you have escaped the Panda, isolate your Google traffic in analytics and look for an upward curve in traffic.
If you believe you have been hit by the Panda algorithm, we recommend that you take a look at this post published by Google back in 2011 as a starting point and make changes to your website.
Photo credit: George Lu
