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What is Google Panda Update? Learn How to Recover from It

Last updated: Aug 24, 2022

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What is Google Panda Update?

Google is known to use multiple algorithms to filter high-quality content on search result pages. One of them is called Google Panda. Other than Google Penguin, the Panda algorithm has been used to filter low-quality content since 2011.

The release of the algorithm itself is initiated by the failure of the Caffeine system, which worsens the quality of Google searches. After being officially released on February 23, 2011, Panda managed to eradicate low-quality content and put informative content on the highest rank on the SERP.

By using the Panda algorithm, Google hopes to put original content written by experts at the top of the SERP. With this method, users can get information based on trusted sources and it can be accounted for.

With the Panda algorithm, Google wishes that content makers focus on quality rather than putting their content at the highest rank on the search result pages. Google hopes that a high-quality website can give the best user experience by providing informative content and gaining traffic organically.

Why Does Your Website Get Hit by Google Panda?

In the world of SEO, it needs to be known that reaching the highest position on the SERP should not always be the main goal of creating content. In this case, the Google Panda algorithm acts to filter plagiarized content and those that are irrelevant to the search terms.

In other words, a website with low-quality content often gets hit by the Panda algorithm. Generally, several factors that can make a website penalized by Google are as follows:

Low-Quality Content

A website page that includes irrelevant information usually becomes the main target of the Panda algorithm. In general, content that includes unclear references and can not be accounted for may confuse users as it causes misinformation.

Duplicate Content

Duplicate content is typically found on multiple pages of a website. You probably will not realize there are pages containing the same information. If there are no changes or modifications to the content, the Panda algorithm will flag it as plagiarized and issue warnings to the website.

Lack of Trustworthiness

The Panda algorithm usually targets websites that have low authority. In this case, Google will consider that the content comes from unverified sources.

Hence, a website must try to publish high-quality content that matches its niche. It needs to be done so that Google considers such a website to have the authority to discuss the topic that fits the niche.

Content Farm

Google will penalize websites that publish low-quality content in large numbers. Therefore, you must prioritize quality over quantity to avoid such penalties.

Irrelevant to Search Terms

Pages that include irrelevant information about the search can be hit by the Panda algorithm. Usually, the information provided in the content does not match with what was promised.

The Signs that Your Website Gets Hit by Google Panda

In general, the Panda algorithm will decide which ones are quality websites and which ones are not based on Google’s standards. Sites that get hit by this algorithm will usually suffer a decrease in traffic volume at the beginning.

As time passes by, the website or page’s rank on the SERP will decrease as well. Such an event is related to the time of the algorithm update. Even so, not every decrease in rank is caused by the Google algorithm itself.

Make sure to evaluate the website’s performance in-depth by using Google Search Console first. Information related to the issues faced by the website can be seen in the result of the analysis. With that, you can see if the drop in performance and the issues on the website have anything to do with the Panda update.

How to Recover from Google Panda

In optimizing websites, Panda is often called an update that is difficult to recover from. Even so, it does not mean that the website that gets hit keeps dropping in performance for an undetermined time.

The Panda algorithm only targets low-quality content that manages to reach the top of the SERP. The way to recover from it is to improve the quality of the content and website alike. To do that, you can follow several steps to solve the Google Panda update, which are:

Leave the content farming method
Audit the website’s SEO to increase the score of Domain Authority or Page Authority
Evaluate content based on its search terms
Remove any duplicate content
Make sure content is relevant to users’ search intent

Use commands, such as noindex, nofollow to avoid duplicate content issues