Google Panda 4.0

Now this is one tweet that couldn’t help but send shivers down the spine of twitterati, which is part of the web traffic ecosystem. This is after Cutts’ announcement last year at the SMX West conference that Panda will be an integral partof Google’s overall change in algorithm.

For Google to announce Panda 4.0 as a separate update, its impact must be far reaching. Panda 4.0 is clearly a step in Google’s content enhancing continuum, where it prevents sites with low quality content from making its way to Google’s top rankings. Google has been continuously changing the algorithm to protect the world- wide-web against low quality content while low quality content sites have also been trying to change their tactics to keep up with their rankings. For sites that need to protect in their turf however, it is imperative that they start to give content the importance it deserves. Some of the areas to focus on are: A)Identify low quality content- Google Webmaster Central Blog helps you evaluate the content on your website by putting it through the litmus tests:

• Does the site have duplicate content with several articles on the same topic with keyword variations?
• Are the articles unsubstantial?
• Do the pages display attention to detail
• Do the articles have spelling/factual errors?

B) Generate Unique Content- Content farms are clearly passé- it is not enough to tinker around with existing articles to create one of your own. Unique content has also begun to mean unique information/ point of view that you have for your readers. C)Authority matters-

• Trust & authority are becoming increasingly important in determining the quality & hence ranking of the website. Here are some areas to ponder over while creating any content for your site:
• Is the information trustworthy?
• Does the article display thought leadership? Is the writer an expert in the field?
• Is the site an authority on the topic?

D) A healthy ad-edit ratio- This one is not just important for Panda but also for the overall user/reader experience. While it is said that Panda 4.0 is set to affect different languages differently & the impact in English is estimated to be 7.5% , it wont be long before you hear from the ground about who it has really hurt & to what degree. Keep watching this space.