Google's Panda Update Pushes SEOs To Assess Their Site

Online, May 23, 2011 (Newswire.com) - In recent months, specifically last February where it all started, Google has launched its series of Panda Updates which was aimed to help people find high-quality sites in Google's search results by reducing the rankings sites with low-quality content. Though the "Panda" algorithm change has improved rankings for a large number of high-quality websites, it has also impacted a lot of websites and caused changes in its search engine rankings.

Google insists that its recent Panda updates have impacted far fewer rankings than in the past. Google stated that the Panda algorithm change was just one of the roughly 500 search improvements that they expect to roll out to search this year.

Let us review the major highlights of the Panda Updates:

Panda 1.0. Initially launched last February, this first series of Panda updates targets "shallow" or "thin" content and impacted about 12% of the rankings in the United States.

Panda 2.0: Launched on the second week of April, this second Panda update incorporates Google "blocking" data and has impacted about 2% of searches in the US. This is also the time when the Panda algorithm update was rolled out globally.

Panda 2.1: Launched just this month and dubbed as "Panda 3.0″ by some, officially, Google says it's only a minor update, "far smaller" than Panda 2. Though Google won't release the percentage of queries impacted, it says that this impacts far fewer rankings than in the past.

With these recent changes that happened, Google has released additional advice and guidance on how Google searches for high-quality sites.

The questions below are the highlights of Google's questions that will provide some guidance on how Google has been looking at the issue. According to Google, these questions could be used to assess the "quality" of a page or an article.

Would you trust the information presented in this article?

Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it shallower in nature?

Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?

Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?

Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?

Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?

Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?

Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?

How much quality control is done on content?

Does the article describe both sides of a story?

Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?

Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don't get as much attention or care?
Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?

For a health-related query, would you trust information from this site?

Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?

Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?

Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?

Is this the sort of page you'd want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?

Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?

Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?

Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?

Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?

Would users complain when they see pages from this site?