Google's penguin and panda

 

Google Panda

Google Panda was a change to Google's search results ranking algorithm that was first released in February 2011. The change aimed to lower the rank of "low-quality sites" or "thin sites",[1] and return higher-quality sites near the top of the search results." Wikipedia

Google Panda was largely an attempt to clean up on-site search engine optimisation. Panda had wide-reaching effects as, unlike prior algorithm changes, it didn’t just punish a single page of a website, but the rank of an entire site. Panda focuses on quality and freshness of a website to determine its rankings including scanning for everything from grammar to quantity of advertising.

About 12% of search results were impacted, including content mills, article websites and legitimate ones as well. The emphasis for websites is on original content that’s either new, interesting or has longevity due to its value.

Google Penguin

"Google Penguin is a code name for a Google algorithm update that was first announced on April 24, 2012. The update is aimed at decreasing search engine rankings of websites that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines by using now declared black-hat SEO techniques, such as keyword stuffing, cloaking, participating in link schemes, deliberate creation of duplicate content, and others." Wikipedia

Google Penguin takes care of often abused off site search engine methods, such as link farms. Google has always examined the number of links pointing to a website as a measure of its popularity. Recognizing this, link building (also known as inbound links and backlinks), was adopted by many search engine experts as main strategies. Blogs, article sites, farms etc were built simply to hold links to another website - sometimes these would measure in the millions!

However, Google now analyzes those links for their quality as well as quantity, and punishes websites that appear to have used link-spamming programmes and techniques.

Other things which Penguin penalises include Keyword stuffing, duplicate content and cloaking website content (helping Panda do its job). Penguin tries to get rid of websites with nothing of value to share.

The Future
So that's Google Penguin and Panda in a nutshell. Google is a key force in the search arena, and something certainly needed to be done to stop the engine delivering so much rubbish to searchers. The idea was to try and help create a better internet for users and for valuable, interesting content to be king (sound familiar?!).

If you stick to common sense and avoid any dubious practices in your search engine optimisation techniques, your website shouldn't be affected. Make sure your content is interesting and informative. be involved in the social media - which Google is increasingly paying attention to. Leave comments on others blogs and encourage discussion on your own content. This all helps to create interest and natural backlinks!