Google imply various filters that do not let low-quality sites
to rise high in search results while surfing Google. These filters do get
updated on regular basis. Recently, Google has updated their Panda filter to
fight web spam in much better way. Since it is their 20th update,
they have named it Panda 20. It is one of the most influential updates that has
its impact on 2.4% search queries of English.
Google has confirmed this update and announced that the low
quality websites will not be able to rank well in Google’s search engine with
this exact match domain. They announced that Panda 20 is not just a date
update, but a complete algorithm update. In fact, there is a lot more
associated with this update.
Matt Cutts from Google said that a new update of Panda is
announced on 9/27. He informed that it is an algorithm update and not just a
data update. Most of the noticeable differences went live on 9/27 itself, but
it is going to be continuous process for the coming 3-4 days. The effect of
this update can be seen on 2.4% English queries to an extent that a regular web
user will be able to notice it. However, its impact on other languages is much
less like 0.5% in Spanish and French.
Usually Panda works by sifting the websites efficiently
those are known to Google through a filter. The ones with too poor content are
trapped by Panda and do not get ranked in Google. But the ones that are not
caught see no decrease in ranking. However, they may get a higher rank due to
the vacant spots from where Panda has trapped and dropped the sites. So, Panda
is updated almost monthly to sift pages well and catch the sites that were not
trapped earlier.
Panda makes all attempts to improve its filters. However,
sites do get escaped as each update is a fresh start in itself. Since many
sites are going to be affected by this, it is very confusing to know which will
be affected.
