The new updates that Google consistently rolls out can leave people a little bewildered at times. Some aren’t sure exactly what is being done, or how it is going to affect their companies. Not only that, but they are sometimes left on the edge of their seats about what the future is going to hold for the search engine algorithm. Thankfully, Google opened up about its new Panda 4.2 “refresh”, and filled the public in on what happened, and what to expect. Thanks to Searchengineland, the world can now know a little bit more about what the refresh holds for their pages.
First what happened?
If you missed it, Google rolled out, albeit slowly, a refresh to its Panda update starting last month. Unlike previous ones, this update is going quite slow and taking a long while to take effect. This is partly due to technical reasons, and a shift in philosophy at the company. The refresh means that websites who had updated their sites since the last update to match Panda’s criteria were given a chance to redeem themselves, and those that hadn’t were punished. It is taking its time to take effect, but the internet has already felt the reverberations.
What did Google have to say about Panda 4.2?
First, the company told us that we need to be patient and vigilant. Some pages of your site may be affected while others might not be. As the roll out continues, new areas of your website may get hit even though you thought you were safe. They also warned us that even though the refresh is site-wide, each page may be affected differently. This is due to their algorithm, which is always shrouded in mystery. They expect 2-3% of pages to be affected heavily, while others may see slight movement in either direction.
What to think about the future
Google implored everyone to pay attention to their analytics, and keep in mind that the roll out will take several months to be completed. They also announced that they are moving toward a full integration of Panda into their algorithm which means we will start seeing more fluid changes in the future. This makes compliance to their algorithm and tracking analytics even more important because we will stop being informed of major, real-time updates.
What we should take away from this is that Google is sticking to its guns, and showing no mercy to sites that don’t comply. On top of that, the changes are rolling out over several months, and your next chance at redemption is far down the road. Make sure that you are in line with the update’s criteria, and remain vigilant to your analytics. Stay tuned for more information.
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