Google Panda update | SEO | Google Algorithm

Google Panda beats SEO Gurus ‘Panda’ updates to the Google algorithm have been introduced from March 2011 to place greater emphasis on a variety of user approval signals and decrease the benefits of artificial backlinking.

Panda, named after the Google engineer who developed it, incorporates machine learning. Essentially, the program learns on the job figuring out and fine-tuning the weight of user signals indicating approval or disapproval. This results in on-going re-arrangement of positioning of webpages on Google’s results pages. Panda examines a number of user signals including time spent on the website, ‘bounce rate’ (the number of visitors who fail to click on internal website links) and probably returnees. Even the consequences of the information displayed on results pages are analysed. Positioning on results pages will be changed according to click through rate.

Larry Page Sergey Brin HomePage PageRank

How should SEOs react to Google Panda Update?

Panda sets out to improve positioning of top quality websites’ webpages. Greater emphasis will be placed on excellent content, outstanding presentation and attention to detail. There will be even less potential benefit to those who participate in black hat strategies such as backlinking campaigns.

SEOs who have advocated excellent quality as the means to success should be encouraged. Seeking natural backlinks to increase PageRank will continue to be an essential part of SEO but this should be with white hat techniques, such as link-baiting, as opposed to black hat techniques such as automated backlinking campaigns.

The objective of SEO is to maximise the number of targeted new visitors to a website. The starting point is keyword research which involves producing a list of potential keywords that targeted visitors would use to find the information a website provides. Niche keywords will have the largest number of targeted visitors where there is a reasonable possibility of top page positioning on search engines and in particular on Google. Niche keywords are found by determining their HPR-KD and knowing the HomePage PageRank of the website.

Matt Cutts, who heads the Google anti-spam unit, refers to a ‘Katamari’ philosophy for website authority development based on the Japanese game which starts with a small object and which gradually rolls up ever larger ones.

In terms of keyword difficulty and developing webpages around appropriate niche keywords, the objective remains to start slowly with ‘low hanging fruit’ keywords and gradually increase HomePage PageRank by natural means so that more lucrative keywords come into play.

SEO should be seen as an ever broadening horizon for each website as its authority grows.
It is vital that webpages, and in particular the HomePage, are optimised for the limited number of niche keywords that are in range. This will enable the website to be found and for natural backlinks to be accumulated. Gradually, the HomePage PageRank will increase and more desirable keywords will come into range.

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