Google Panda Update 3.8

We wrote about the introduction of Google's algorithm Panda in February of last year. The learning algorithm focuses on artificial intelligence by filtering out entire sites, rather than pages, based on inferences it makes from the data put together made by thousands of site quality testers. On average, Google likes to update most of their algorithms about once a month. Atypically, this updates comes quite hot on the heels of their last update which was released just a couple of weeks ago on the 8th of June (although the update before that was April 26th). However, Google says this doesn’t necessarily signify a change in policy, they simply just wanted to refresh the algorithm.

Panda Update Effects

Webmasters welcome algorithm updates with mixed emotion, as it is usually followed by sudden shift in their rankings. This often followed by fevered web forum chatter querying what exactly has been changed and and angry domain owners cursing Google. However Google has said that the update will only noticeably affect about 1% of their search queries. Which may not seem high, until you consider there are over 3 Billion search queries submitted to Google each day, which means around 30,000,000 daily searches might be affected.

Search Signals

Although over the weekend, webmasters noticed a marked decrease in their web traffic, Google has claimed that none of the search signals were affected, and that all the update was was a normal data refresh- when the weight of one of the existing indicators is changed. It may have been premature as, according to Google, the update was only rolled out yesterday and will begin affect international rankings over the next few days. Once completely implemented, users will be able to make some solid conclusions on the extent of the update.