So there has been a few weeks since Google’s latest major algorithm update- Panda 4, rolled out in May. What has been the impact?
The key thrust of Panda 4 has been a side-swipe at sites with low quality content. Nothing radical there, given that has been a key part of Google updates of late. There have been some major scalps in the process – notably eBay and Ask.com, with some commentators suggesting that outward signals suggest eBay may have just lost up to 80% of its’ organic traffic – ouch!
Some may argue that this has been coming for some time. It wasn’t uncommon to see eBay and other giants lording it up with 2 or 3 organic rankings on the same searches on Google, crowding out other specialist retailers. We know that recent Google updates have favoured the silo-ed more specialist sites, so this news isn’t altogether surprising. We believe at Regroup that this latest update may be favouring smaller sites, though still early days.
Alongside the theme of penalising sites for poor quality content, sites that have heavily used syndicated content in the past may find themselves on the receiving end of a Panda 4 punch.
Commentary suggests there have been some winners in the process – such as glassdoor.com, emedicinehealth.com, and shopstyle.com to name but a few.
We continue to watch this space.