Major Google Update Begins Roll Out

Recently, Google announced that the latest version of its Panda update had been released, with the aim of penalizing poor or ‘thin content’ from ranking well.

A “Slow Rollout” Has Begun

Announced via a post on Google+ on the 26th September, Google claimed that a “slow rollout” of the Google update had begun earlier in the week, and that it would continue into this week before it was fully complete. Depending on location, it appears as though somewhere between 3% and 5% of search queries will be affected by the latest version of Panda.

Google’s Most Precise Update Yet

This version of Panda, Google’s 27th, is said to be Google’s most precise yet, and Google claim that it will allow small and medium sized sites to rank better.
In the post, Google employee Pierre Far said:

“Based on user (and webmaster!) feedback, we’ve been able to discover a few more signals to help Panda identify low-quality content more precisely. This results in a greater diversity of high-quality small- and medium-sized sites ranking higher, which is nice.”

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A Chance to Climb the Rankings

The news of the rollout is excellent for companies and sites that were penalised by the previous Panda update, giving them a vital chance to emerge and climb the rankings once more (if relevant changes have been made) and see an increase in traffic.

On the other hand, if your site hasn’t previously been hit by Panda, now is the time it might get impacted, so if you see a drop in your traffic in the coming weeks then it is likely that the Panda update is to blame.

“Panda 4.1”?

The last ‘major’ update which was dubbed as Panda 4.0 by some users was rolled out on the 20th of May, affecting 7.5% of all queries in the process. As it has been confirmed that this update will also be major (affecting between 3% and 5% of queries), it appears as though the name Panda 4.1 looks set to stay.

Recently, updates have been slow, and this is only the second update of 2014. By contrast, a whopping 14 updates were confirmed by Google in 2012.

Get in Touch if you’re Affected

With the latest update appearing as a ‘major’ update, it is likely that numerous businesses will be affected and hit by a drop in traffic and rankings. If you think you’ve been affected, then get in touch and we will help you make the changes you need to get your site back on track.