Google Panda Update Parameters

The Google Panda Update, it’s new algorithm, explained in detail

Google Panda Update- This Panda doesn't look so tough

In January, Google warned that it was declaring war against web sites with little original content, websites that found holes in its algorithm in order to achieve top listings for what was obviously low-quality content, and websites that were engaging in bogus link building techniques for the purpose of high rankings.  In February, the Google Panda update was unleashed, and black hat SEO sites felt the wrath of Google.

While the clock struck midnight for those companies engaging in black hat SEO techniques (J.C. Penney) to secure quick results, a new dawn began for those companies utilizing proper, long-term strategies designed to provide quality content to its users and legitimate links. The purpose of this article is to detail how legitimate companies can understand and increase its search rankings by following the rules of the Google Panda Update.

Google Panda Update | What are the parameters?

We discussed what the Google Panda Update is punishing, but what parameters will influence higher search rankings?  According to Chris Bergstrom of Berstrom SEO, the following factors influence the Google Panda Update:  domain related factors, site architecture factors, content factors, internal linking factors, and website factors.

Google Panda Update | Domain related factors

1.The past record of a domain like how often it changed IP
2.Domains past owners i.e how often the owner was changed
3.The external mention of the domain (non linked)
4.The geo targeted setting in Google Webmaster tool.
5.Use of the Keyword in the domain

Item 5, the use of the keyword in the domain, has recently come under fire as the Google Panda Update just launched a part 2 that is punishing keyword rich domain names.  Google CEO Matt Cutts wants to reward branding and properly aged websites.  So when determining your domain name, think more about branding and less about SEO.

Google Panda Update | Site architecture factors

1.Website url structure
2.site navigation structure
3.Use of external CSS / JS files;
4.Website structure accessibility (use of inaccessible navigation, JavaScript, etc);
5.Use of canonical URLs;
6.“Correct” HTML code (?);
7.Cookies usage;

According to Google CEO Matt Cutts:  Site architecture, how you make links and structure appear on a page in a way to get the most people to the products that you want them to see, is really a better way to approach it (PageRank sculpting) then trying to do individual sculpting of PageRank on links. If you can get your site architecture to focus PageRank on the most important pages or the pages that generate the best profit margins, that is a much better way of directly sculpting the PageRank then trying to use an iFrame or encoded JavaScript.  http://www.stonetemple.com/articles/interview-matt-cutts-012510.shtml

Google Panda Update | Content factors

1.Updated content (frequently updated content gets preference)
2.Content uniqueness (duplicate content invites penalty)
3. Pure text content ratio (without links, images, code, etc)
4. Keyword density (ideal keyword density 2-5%)
5. Rampant mis-spelling of words, bad grammar, and 10,000 word screeds without punctuation.

The bottom line is that the Google Panda Update will punish websites that just put up keyword garbleygook for the purpose of higher page ranking.  Black Hat SEO taught us that the Google Bots couldn’t read, so sites could put up whatever they wanted.  Now with the Google Panda Update, just assume the Google Bots are your grade school English teacher, can read what you’re writing, and have a red pen ready to lower your grade if you’re not putting out quality content.

Google Panda Update | Internal linking factors

1 . No of internal links to page;
2 . No of internal links to page with identical / targeted anchor text;
3 . No of internal links to page from content (instead of navigation bar, breadcrumbs, etc);
4 . No of links using “nofollow” attribute; (?)
5 . Internal link density

According to Ramon Ray of smallbiztechnology.com, there are two types of links: on-site and off-site linking. On-site would be the inter-linking between pages of your website. Off-site are other websites linking to your site. About 60% of the Google Panda update algorithm focuses on off-site link building.  The low-quality sites are those sites using tools such as autoblogging, or are building sites for the sole purpose of using AdSense. Sites with such an overflow of ads ranked low and got hit hard by the Panda; does your site have a lot of ads? You might want to evaluate the coverage on your site and see if you need to tone down the ads.  It’s a smart idea to track the links to your site as well as you can, and request the low-quality sites to take down their links. It’s a matter of negative association, and it’s not worth the backlink!

Regarding internal linking to your own pages, as best as we can tell, as long as the internal page your are linking to is a good, quality, original content page, then the internal link should not hurt you.

Google Panda Update | Website factors

1.Use of Robot.txt
2.Overall site update frequency
3.Overall site size
4.Amount of time passed after being indexed by Google
5.Use of XML sitemap
6.On-page trust flags (Contact info (for local search even more important), Privacy policy, TOS,
and similar);
7.Website type (e.g. blog instead of informational sites in top 10)

The bottom line is that if you put up a website and never update it, your website will not be considered relevant by the Google Panda update and your rankings will fall.  Use fresh, original content and consistently post to your site and you should not feel the negative effects of the Google Panda Update.

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Original Picture Source http://www.flickr.com/photos/dknnyc/2246743481/

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