Google's penguin and panda
Google Panda
Google Panda was a change to Google's search results
ranking algorithm that was first released in February 2011.
The change aimed to lower the rank of "low-quality
sites" or "thin sites",[1] and return higher-quality
sites near the top of the search results." Wikipedia
Google Panda was largely an attempt to clean up on-site
search engine optimisation. Panda had wide-reaching effects
as, unlike prior algorithm changes, it didn’t just
punish a single page of a website, but the rank of an entire
site. Panda focuses on quality and freshness of a website
to determine its rankings including scanning for everything
from grammar to quantity of advertising.
About 12% of search results were impacted, including content
mills, article websites and legitimate ones as well. The
emphasis for websites is on original content that’s
either new, interesting or has longevity due to its value.
Google Penguin
"Google Penguin is a code name for a Google algorithm
update that was first announced on April 24, 2012. The update
is aimed at decreasing search engine rankings of websites
that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines by using
now declared black-hat SEO techniques, such as keyword stuffing,
cloaking, participating in link schemes, deliberate creation
of duplicate content, and others." Wikipedia
Google Penguin takes care of often abused off site search
engine methods, such as link farms. Google has always examined
the number of links pointing to a website as a measure of
its popularity. Recognizing this, link building (also known
as inbound links and backlinks), was adopted by many search
engine experts as main strategies. Blogs, article sites,
farms etc were built simply to hold links to another website
- sometimes these would measure in the millions!
However, Google now analyzes those links for their quality
as well as quantity, and punishes websites that appear to
have used link-spamming programmes and techniques.
Other things which Penguin penalises include Keyword stuffing,
duplicate content and cloaking website content (helping
Panda do its job). Penguin tries to get rid of websites
with nothing of value to share.
The Future
So that's Google Penguin and Panda in a nutshell. Google
is a key force in the search arena, and something certainly
needed to be done to stop the engine delivering so much
rubbish to searchers. The idea was to try and help create
a better internet for users and for valuable, interesting
content to be king (sound familiar?!).
If you stick to common sense and avoid any dubious practices
in your search engine optimisation techniques, your website
shouldn't be affected. Make sure your content is interesting
and informative. be involved in the social media - which
Google is increasingly paying attention to. Leave comments
on others blogs and encourage discussion on your own content.
This all helps to create interest and natural backlinks!