The last time Google carried out a comprehensive upgrade of its search algorithm it was 2007, the subprime mortgage crisis had still to occur and the global credit crunch had yet to happen.

The upgrade back then was called Florida and it was also all about increasing the quality of search results and preventing spam websites which had abused link building and had acquired inflated PageRank.  Almost overnight it dropped the PageRank (PR) of many directories and drove sites which had become accustomed to being on Google’s first page to its fourth and fifth pages.

The Florida update overturned many SEO practices, stopped link buying and link farms and targeted websites which had employed Black Hat SEO techniques top artificially boost their listings. Four years later history is repeating itself with the Panda update.

Aimed squarely at what Google perceives to be ‘low quality’ websites the Panda algorithm update does for content and design what the Florida update did for links. Here is a list of what the Panda update is designed to scan and penalize:

1. Websites with content that has been stolen, scraped or ‘spinned’ (a practice which uses one original website and software to generate several variations with synonyms and similar words in an attempt to artificially bulk a website’s content).
2. Websites which have a lot of content which has not been updated for some time. When coupled to low click through rates these websites will see their rankings drop.
3. Websites which have content that is not very relevant to their overall theme and creates a number of different, non-related strands within their structure.
4. Any website with high bounce rates. Google currently is collating, anonymously, data regarding abandonment rates on specific search terms. When any site gets a low click through rate (CTRs) or high ‘Bounce’ rates (scannable from Google Analytics) it will see its Google search ranking drop.
5. Sites whose content is not original. This will affect eCommerce websites which use product descriptions which appear in many places all over the web. It will also affect websites which make an increased use of quotes and copy chunks of text from elsewhere.
6. Websites which have poor design and poor navigation. In the past Google had no way of assessing the impact of design and navigation on a website as its bot could not (and still cannot) visually assess the ‘image’ of the site itself. However with the sensitization of the Google algorithm to bounce rates and abandonment figures it can now make an approximate guess of a website’s quality in terms of design and navigability. What this means for webmasters is that if your website does not engage your visitors then you will most likely see it drop in rankings.
7. Websites with content posts of 200 words or less. Spam websites do not go in for lengthy items of content because they are intent of maintaining artificial update schedules with content that’s of insufficient quality. The Google algorithm now takes into account the length of specific posts and gauges them against other metrics on the site itself such as relevance, keyword density and even cross-links. The result is that if you only put short posts on your site you will be penalized.
8. Websites where the content is not updated often enough. Here you really need to have some kind of content creation strategy in place to help you lift your website above its competitors and generate organic traffic which is relevant to what it advertises or sells.
9. Any website which has a poor linking strategy either internally or externally will be penalized. Links has been on Google’s radar since 2007 (see the Florida update mentioned above) but now they are given even more weight and are assessed in terms of social network marketing.
10. Websites which fail the social network presence test and have poor uptime will also be penalized. Google now officially takes into account when deciding on a website’s ranking its presence in social networks like Facebook and Twitter and the stability if its hosting.

These ten factors require a certain amount of work to overcome. Webmasters who require assistance should really think about asking for a Panda Update Audit of their website which will generate an ‘SEO Compliancy Report’ checking on over 120 different SEO points.

These reports not only create a certain sense of reassurance when it comes to maintaining valuable organic traffic to your website but they also become a ‘map’ of sorts helping webmasters better plan their website’s future development in terms of content and, now, overall quality. 

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