Google Panda is an integral part of Google’s search algorithm designed to filter out and lower the rank websites with thin or low-quality content and webspam. It was first released in 2011 as a part of Google’s efforts to eliminate black hat SEO practices and webspam.
Google continually fine-tunes its algorithm to deliver the most relevant answers to users’ search queries. But while these changes are often subtle enough, the same can’t be said for the Panda update - arguably one of the most significant modifications to Google’s algorithm.
The Panda Update made a massive impact when it was first released, affecting 11.8% of search queries. Today Google Panda is integrated into the algorithm and is being improved continuously.
It’s worth noting that the Panda was developed by comparing various ranking signals against the human quality rankings. Does that remind you of today’s quality raters’ work and E-A-T principles?
Later, Google published a set of 23 questions “addressed” by Panda and human raters when determining the quality of websites.
While many referred to it as the Farmer Update (since it predominantly targeted content farms), Google’s internal name for the update was “Panda.”
According to Amit Singhal, this nickname actually refers to the software engineer who played an integral role in making the update possible - Navneet Panda.
Google Panda is important because, when launched, it marked the beginning of a series of “quality control checks” for the search engine. The so-called “content farms” - sites that churn out huge amounts of content just to dominate SERPs - were among its primary targets.
The introduction and implementation of the Panda update improved the overall quality of SERPs significantly. There was no longer room for websites that did not provide any value.
Panda boosts the performance of websites containing highly informative, relevant content and pages with a low ad-to-content ratio. Of course, this update also prompted content creators to prioritize offering value to the end-users and putting quality over quantity.
And that, in turn, ensures an optimal user experience.
When implementing a content strategy that aligns with Google’s algorithm and won’t be targeted by Panda and its algorithmic filters, it’s vital to take note of the following three best practices.
Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines is a 170-page document that human quality raters will use when assessing the quality of search results. This assessment helps Google understand how good its algorithm is and what should be changed.
E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) principles are part of that document - and are among the main factors used to assess the overall quality of a specific web page.
And since Google quality raters essentially “educate” the AI-based algorithm, it becomes crucial for content creators to get familiar with these guidelines, understand what Google is looking for - and create content accordingly.
Now, it’s true that Google doesn’t give your website a score based on these principles. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t strive to demonstrate your E-A-T and improve it.
For starters, you can:
Ahrefs can help with that:
Use Site Explorer to analyze the top-ranking pages for a specific keyword and understand why they rank higher in SERPs. It’s easier to reverse-engineer their success when you have such insight.
Thin content - as in, content that’s poorly researched, doesn’t add value, and might be factually outdated - should be the first to go. Remember how Panda works:
The algorithm analyzes your website as a whole, meaning that your lower-quality content might be holding some more valuable pieces back and affecting your search engine visibility.
Ensuring the content on your website is valuable, relevant, correct, and up-to-date is a constant battle, though. So, don’t be afraid to go over it once in a while - and “tidy things up” as needed.
We do it all the time here at Ahrefs:
Whenever we’re not happy with a particular piece of content, we’ll take it down or rewrite it from scratch.
Give it a try - you can use our Content Audit guide to learn more about assessing your content.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with featuring paid advertising on your website. What you should pay attention to, though, is how high your ad-to-content ratio is. A good rule of thumb as far as Google Panda is concerned is:
The lower that ratio, the better.
Nobody loves ad-heavy pages that mainly consist of paid advertising rather than original content. So, moving forward, keep an eye on your ad-to-content ratio.
Panda doesn’t penalize websites that feature duplicate content - as in, content that appears on more than one web address. However, that doesn’t automatically imply that plagiarism is fine by Google. While Panda isn’t used here, there are other measures for identifying and handling any plagiarism. And yes, Google will demote duplicate content in SERPs.
No, word count is not a factor for Google’s Panda algorithm. While the word count can, in some cases, be a convenient way to identify “undersized” pages, it’s not a determining factor here.
Your content should be as long as it’s needed to cover the topic - no more and no less.
Shortly after the release of the Panda update, Google rolled out another one - the Penguin. The two share some fundamental goals, with showing higher-quality and more valuable content in search results being the main one. However, Google Penguin directly targets websites that use “bad” link-building techniques.
Yes. In 2016, five years after the initial release, Panda was officially incorporated into Google’s core algorithm. It no longer operates as a filter applied to Google’s algorithm; it’s now embedded into the core algorithm, serving as one of the main ranking factors. And yes, it remains relevant for SEO - even 11 years after its release.