Newsletter
13 May 2011 |
Google algorithm updates leave sites feeling ‘sad Pandas’Written by Rick Martin |
The fallout from Google’s Panda updates has continued, with UK technology news sites and ‘content farms’ among the worst hit by the changes to the search engine’s algorithm.
Around 12 per cent of Google search queries were affected by the original re-jig, leaving some pretty big winners and losers. Google-owned YouTube and fellow video site Vimeo have been among the apparent victors, along with newspaper sites for the Daily Mirror and Independent also doing well out of the changes. Sites where people spend a long time reading pages have also been given a boost, with Ebay, Techcrunch and the National Lottery sites also thought to be in the happy camp.
Sad pandas are thought to include Pocket Lint, Tech Radar, Computer Weekly and a number of voucher and discount sites. Google’s biggest target, it seems, has been content farms – ultimately sites which are deemed “low quality” or “shallow”, MEC Opinion - Google unveiled the algorithm update in an effort to ensure that its SERPs aren't dominated by low-quality content farms. The rationale behind the update is clear: faced with increasing public criticism over the quality of its SERPs, Google had to act. This update is great news for those of us who are creating unique and useful content. In the long-term this ensures that a user's overall experience of search is a positive one. It also helps reduce the amount of low quality, bottom-of-the-barrel sites with short articles no better than ads, written using poor-quality language and scraped from other sites.
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