Google Panda Hit

Identifying a Panda Hit

The first step to take to save your site from the Panda hit is to identify symptoms. Why? For starters, it will measure your progress in your efforts to reduce the Panda effect. You will also need to make sure that the traffic fluctuations you are noticing are indeed because of the Panda update and not because of some other random factor. This will enforce your faith in the steps you will be taking. Now a straight 40 percent traffic decrease that never returned can for sure be attributed to a Panda hit. If you didn’t experience such massive phenomenon in your website’s traffic, there are still quite a lot of subtle but sure hints that will tell you that your website is indeed suffering from the Panda effect. Mentioned here are the most important of those factors.
This chapter is just meant for you to identify your problem; subsequent chapters will help you in rectifying them.

Losing Long Tail Keyword Traffic

It has been established that the Panda update has caused the loss of long tail keyword traffic for many sites. Mind you, the primary keywords’ ranking would stay unchanged. The question is, why only long tail keywords? The answer to this question lies in the quality of your content. If Google feels the quality of your content is not up to the mark, your long tail keywords will get devalued resulting in less traffic.
Another explanation could be that since content farms provided a lot of back links to web pages for long tail keywords, those links have been devalued because Panda has hit those content farms the hardest. Since the primary keywords normally receive the real link building, the traffic due to those remained largely unchanged after the update.

Extended Ranking Fluctuations

After every algorithm update there is a fluctuation or bouncing of rankings noticed for a while. This is mainly because Google tries to reevaluate rankings and update its index. Earlier Google Dance used to occur about once a month when Google updated its index, but since the adoption of continuous index update, Google Dance became less prominent. Even after an algorithm update, the bouncing around lasted only for a short while. However, if you notice the ranking of a few keywords keep fluctuating wildly and don’t seem to settle down, then you most probably have been hit. One of the causes may be that you have done aggressive link building through content farms instead of relying on natural linkbuilding.

Traffic Increase, Then Decrease

Use a tool like Google Analytics and check your site statistics for the time around the Panda release. If you notice a spike in your website’s traffic right after the Panda update rolled out followed by an immediate decline; you most probably have been hit. The general consensus is that the rise and dip signify that Google is assessing your webpage in accordance to its new algorithm. If the dip you experience is permanent, it means Google has just reduced your site authority.

Check for Content Indexing

Use the site search feature provided by Google to verify if your content is being indexed by Google since the latest update. There are various tools provided by Google to check this. For example, check your indexed content by Google searching site: www.your-domain.com. This will give you a fair idea if Google has stopped indexing new content, and if it has, then you are a victim of the Panda update.

Major Decrease in Website Traffic

This is the most dreaded symptom of all, and it means that you have lost around 60 to 70 percent of your traffic in the post-Panda period. If the traffic increase right after the update was temporary and after a while, your traffic becomes consistently low, you are staring down the barrel of the gun. This occurrence definitively tells you that a major overhauling of your site is required. It is better to build your site from the ground up, following the steps given in this book, making sure you follow the white hat practices for long-term sustenance.
Later in the book, more will be discussed about building a search-engine optimized website from scratch.

Ranking Decrease for Specific Keywords

This symptom describes the event when only a few keywords saw a ranking decrease instead of your whole site being affected. If you think your site receives most of its traffic from a few specific keywords, it is likely to be hit hard after this update. Websites that paid more attention to the content quality instead of generating keyword-specific traffic did not experience much decline.

Ranking Decrease for Exact Match Domains

Google used to place EMDs or Exact Match Domains in high regard. For example, if your site is about country French rugs, the EMD will be www.seositetools.net and it will be ranked high. EMDs are almost always based on a primary keyword that receives a lot of traffic, or in other cases, it is a slight variation of the main keyword (for example http://whatisgooglepanda.com).
Many junk websites with poor content achieve good SERP ranking because of EMDs. With the Panda update, Google set out to fill this loophole. Surely the domain of a website is one of the important features of a website, but Google aims to downplay this factor so that there is no room for misuse. Therefore, if you noticed about 30 percent drop in ranking in your EMD sites, it means you need to stop depending upon EMDs so much in this post-Panda era.
It is quite likely that you have experienced all or some of the above-mentioned symptoms and now can relate to them. Now that you have pinpointed your problems and are more aware, you can proceed to the next chapter where you will learn everything you need to know about bringing your website back on track.

Source Link:www.whatisgooglepanda.com


Google Fellow Amit Singhal may have described Panda and its goals better than anyone.
“Our site quality algorithms are aimed at helping people find ‘high-quality’ sites by reducing the rankings of low-quality content,” he said.
Here is a blog from Google with more information about ensuring your website meets Panda’s quality standards – and you’ll notice most of the search giant’s suggestions revolve around investing in quality content!

The warning signs of Pandalism

There are a series of signals you’ll see that may reveal your website has been the victim of Pandalism. These aren’t all that different from the opposite of some metrics you use to judge effective content marketing and SEO strategies. Instead of steady, gradual increases, though, you’ll witness rapid, sudden decreases.

There’s a way back from this, but first let’s look at the warning signs.

Referring keywords drop

Google Analytic Chart

One of the first places to go if you think you’ve been Pandalized is your keyword referral page in Google Analytics.

Under keywords in Analytics will be a “traffic sources” tab, this is where you will find the keywords search users have entered in Google to land on your website. The main indicator of negative Panda effects here is the sudden sharp decrease in referring keywords.
What this means is that there are far fewer terms that are resulting in strong search positions for your website. This is a key metric for an SEO campaign, and it should be monitored throughout the content marketing process. Any instance where the figure falls rapidly might be a sign of a Panda update that has hurt your website.

Fewer cached pages

Much like keyword referrals, Pandalism will also result in a marked drop in total pages cached by Google. This is a result of the search engine determining that some of your content pages don’t meet Panda’s quality standards and eliminating them from its web results. To look for this, go to Google.com and conduct a “site:” search. You’ll want to type in “site:YourDomain.com.” The amount of pages Google returns is your total number of cached pages.
This a figure businesses should consider regularly when assessing SEO campaigns. As you create more content, this should increase. A Panda update can suddenly mean far fewer cached pages, which will mean a lower search visibility.

Significant drops in website traffic

Losing keyword referrals and cached pages will inevitably lead to less traffic for your website. While traffic volumes can ebb and flow according to seasons or peak days of the week for individual businesses, significant drops should always be a red flag. The value of SEO is that it helps your website increase traffic in a sustainable way over time. Once you see a stark decrease in traffic to your website, checking for fewer keyword referrals or cached pages will help you assess the problem immediately.

Source Link: www.contentlead.com