What is Google Panda…Really

Google’s Panda has been something that we SEO experts have been trying to keep up with for a little more than year now. So as I sat down to write my SEO class for this month. I wanted to put all the Google Panda updates in one place. I started to compile its history so that I could teach the class what they needed to be aware of in 2012 in order to have an effective website.

A few things jumped out at me. As we look at each update in a segmented manner, we are often reacting to what each micro update is, but what I have found in looking at this with a historical eye is that Panda is nothing more than trying to improve the quality of the internet. If you understand the basic concept that Google is there to rank quality sites that in nature are not self-promotional, then it makes perfect sense.

It’s not some 800 lb. gorilla in the SEO room, although I think it’s something that we can say as an industry, we treated as such.  We have been lucky because for the most part our customers were not caught in the Panda update. But I believe that’s because we always have worked from the idea that content is king. Sure there was the occasional customer that decided that content and product pages were the same thing, but over all we have always taught that the job of a website that wants to rank, is to provide quality content about a particular subject.

If you look at each of the Panda updates, they have all been aimed at reducing the noise on the Internet and delivering the best possible content. If you are a realtor, write on the city you live in, not the properties. If you are a carpet cleaner, write about how people can get wine stains out of carpet. The more you provide solutions to problems, the greater the chance is that your site will be found, bookmarked, shared and liked across the internet.