Have You Survived Panda 4.1

Google is rolling out yet another Panda Update to help recover high quality small & medium websites/blogs to appear high in search results. At the same time – this update will also filter-out sites with low quality or thin content appearing in search results.

This time the Version is Panda 4.1 and affecting approximately 3 to 5% of search queries depending on different locations.

The news was announced by Pierre Far on Sep 26, who works as a Webmaster Trend Analyst at Google. According to Pierre – The update rolled out early last week and will continue till this week. If we go by the previous rolling out time, that is 10 days approximately; this time Panda 4.1 will continue to roll from  Sep 22nd/23rd to Oct 2nd/3rd.

Why Panda 4.1 Is Different

Google had completely re-written the Panda algorithm in Version 4.0 and released on May 2oth this year. This update was followed by a Panda Refresh of the same version on Jun 24. It’s important to know the difference between the ‘Panda Update’ & ‘Panda Refresh.’

# Panda Update: Addition, deletion or modification of an existing Panda algorithm. Then running the program in Google servers located at various places in the world.

# Panda Refresh: Running the existing or previous version of Panda algorithm to filter-out thin content from search results.

Google is calling Panda Versions 4.0 onwards as Softer Version of the thin content fighting algorithm. Because it will help recovering sites & blogs in the grey zone. Grey Zone means – Sites which are not so heavily spammy in nature like meaningless multiple small pages, keyword stuffed articles, duplicate content from other sources and publishing unrelated topics on high demand keywords. But somehow their content is sallow in nature in terms of quality.

Always remember – Thin content doesn’t mean word counts only. It’s the overall quality of the web-page or article.

So Panda 4.1 will not only hit sites which are thin or shallow in nature and not affected previously; it will also help to recover websites & blogs which are already affected by this algorithm and taken steps to correct their issues, or falling in the grey zone.

It’s Time To ACT

Google says – Their softer version of Panda Updates from 4.0 onwards will help to recover sites incrementally with every updates. Provided, the webmaster had taken adequate and correct steps to make their content meaningful or high quality.

So if your blog is already hit by Panda – It’s a high time to take adequate measures to getrid of this filter, Or if you’re a new webmaster starting your website/blog then be cautious & produce meaningful/ quality content.

Happy Blogging