You may have heard about the Panda update by Google, but might not be sure what it is or what it is set to accomplish. To fully understand it, reviewing some of the search engine optimization (SEO) basics is a must to realize why this algorithm change is needed.

To enhance a website’s visibility, SEO techniques are used. Some SEO firms found ways to optimize a site through false means by tricking the algorithm used for search queries. This technique is called “black-hat SEO” and it is because of this that Google began making aggressive and necessary changes. These alterations correct the situation of how poorly constructed and falsely optimized pages are on the top of search engines instead of ones with quality original content.

Panda is one of the algorithm changes that Google uses to catch websites with poor quality. It penalizes them by putting these websites on the last page of search results. From the original date of release, there have been 5 updates to the Panda algorithm and each of these updates target a specific kind of “black-hat SEO” technique. Poor quality websites are now being sent to the bottom where they belong while superior websites get the higher rankings they deserve.

Panda Update Timeline:

• February 27, 2012 – Panda 3.3 is announced
• February 3, 2012 – February 17 – Pack has new rounds of “search quality highlights.”
• January 19, 2012 – Algorithm changes are made for page layouts and pages which offer too much space for ads above the “fold” are devalued.
• January 18, 2012 – Panda 3.2 data update is confirmed.
• November 2011 – Panda 3.1 has slight adjustments which affect a percentage of queries and websites and opens the way for ten new updates.
• October, 2011 – Panda 2.5 has a feature which gives importance to overuse of links as well as how specific keywords are valued.
• July, 2011 – Panda 2.3 helps clarify difference between low and high quality domains as well as the keyword density, relevance and proper tagging.
• June, 2011 – Panda 2.2 is aimed at “scraper sites” which copy content from other pages.
• May, 2011 – Panda 2.1 is updated to correct sites which are not flagged properly.
• April, 2011 – Panda 2.0 targets all websites which use English as the main language but are out of the U.S.
• February, 2011 – Panda 1.0 is known as the “Farmer update” since it aims at LinkFarms and ContentFarms

Since some websites were unaware that their chosen SEO firm used “black-hat” strategies, our company, who uses ethical SEO practices, received many leads and helped to correct damages done to companies to get back to their desired positions. The task of correcting damages requires much work but final results get a better reputation from Google.