The Internet Marketing Driver

  • GSQi Home
  • About Glenn Gabe
  • SEO Services
    • Algorithm Update Recovery
    • Technical SEO Audits
    • Website Redesigns and Site Migrations
    • SEO Training
  • Blog
    • Web Stories
  • Contact GSQi

Archives for February 2014

Panda UJan14 – Uncovering the Panda Update from January 11, 2014 (with a note about Expedia)

February 17, 2014 By Glenn Gabe 11 Comments

Panda Update on January 11, 2014

As of July 2013, Google will not confirm Panda updates anymore.  And as I explained in my post about unconfirmed Panda updates, this can lead to serious confusion for webmasters.  For example, if Panda updates are not documented, then it becomes that much harder to understand why a serious drop in organic search traffic occurred.  Was it Panda, a smaller algo change, was the drop due to links, or other factors?  Even when Panda updates were confirmed, it was still a a confusing topic for business owners.  And now it’s even more confusing since those updates are cloaked.

According to John Mueller of Google (via a webmaster hangout video), the Panda algorithm is now trusted enough that Google feels comfortable rolling it out once per month.  That link should jump you to 22:58 in a video where John speaks about Panda.  It’s not real-time like some people think, it’s simply trusted more than it once was (and Google can bypass some of the testing it used to implement prior to rolling out Panda).  The new Panda can take ten days to fully roll out, and again, Google will not provide confirmation of the updates.  So yes, Panda updates have been occurring since the last confirmed update, but it’s just harder to pinpoint those exact dates.

Human Panda Barometers
In my post about unconfirmed Panda updates, I explained that SEOs well-versed in Panda can typically shed some light on new updates.  That’s because they have access to a lot of data.  And not just any data, but Panda data.  The more companies an SEO is helping with Panda, the more that SEO has visibility into when Panda actually rolls out.  In addition, SEOs heavily working with Panda might have more companies reach out to them that were impacted by subsequent Panda updates.  That’s even more Panda data to analyze.

That’s why I believe SEOs heavily involved with algorithm updates can act like human Panda barometers, and can help determine when new updates roll out.  Based on my work with Panda, I’ve had the opportunity to see when some cloaked Panda updates rolled out (like the August and September Panda updates that I documented in my post from November).  The reason I can identify some of the newer Panda updates is because some of the companies I’m helping see recovery, while other companies that were just hit by Panda reach out to me for help.  The combination of the two enables me to pick up when some Panda updates roll out.


Welcoming 2014 with a Panda Update – January 11th Specifically
So, 2014 kicked off and I was wondering when the first major algorithm update would happen.  And it didn’t take long… as January 11th was a tough day for many webmasters.  Right around the 11th, I noticed an uptick in webmaster chatter about an update occurring, which quickly led me to Google Analytics to trend Google organic search traffic across several websites dealing with Panda problems.   Low and behold, there was significant movement.

Check out the SEO visibility for a company that got hit by the January 2014 update:

Website Impacted by Panda UJan14

In addition to companies I am currently helping, my inbox also confirmed something was going on.  I had several new companies reaching out to me after the 11th explaining that they saw a major hit starting on that date.  Upon checking their reporting, you could clearly see a significant drop beginning on January 11, 2014.  And digging deeper revealed that a number of those companies had battled with Panda in the past.  A few had also exchanged blows with Phantom on May 8, 2013.

This led me to believe that we were witnessing our first Panda update of 2014.  And since I’m a big believer in naming updates to document them specifically, I’m going to name this one too.  I’m calling it Panda UJan14, for “Unconfirmed January 2014”.  I think this naming convention works extremely well, since the new Panda is supposed to roll out monthly.  Providing the month and year in the update will help clarify when those updates rolled out.

And based on the data I have analyzed since July, here are the Panda updates I believe have rolled out since the last confirmed update in July 2013.  Notice how they are approximately one month apart:

  • Panda UAug2013 – on August 26th
  • Panda USep2013 – on September 16th
  • Panda UNov2013 – on November 18th  – (Note, I don’t have a lot of data backing this update, but several sites I analyzed saw significant movement on the 18.)
  • Panda UDec2013 – on December 17th
  • The latest – Panda UJan2014 – on January 11, 2014

The Impact of Panda UJan14
Let’s start with the negative impact of the latest Panda update.  The companies that reached out to me after getting hit by Panda UJan14 saw a big drop from Google Organic search traffic.  That ranged from 20-35% and began on January 11, 2014.  Here’s the SEO visibility of another site hit by the January Panda update:

Negative Impact from Panda UJan2014

As mentioned earlier, a number of those companies had previous battles with Panda.  Clearly, they had content quality issues from a Panda standpoint.  When speaking with the business owners about the drop, they all explained implementing changes over the years when dealing with previous Panda updates.  But as I explained in a post about the grey area of Panda, if you don’t significantly tackle the content quality situation, you could very well get hit again (or not recover in the first place).  It’s extremely important to make significant changes in order to exit the grey area.  If you don’t, you could sit in the grey area of Panda forever, never knowing how close you are to recovery.  Several of the companies that were hit in January did not do enough to clean up their Panda issues, and were subsequently hit with another Panda update.

Now the positive impact from UJan2014.  On the flip side of the Panda hits were some positive stories.  A few companies I have been helping saw increases ranging from 15-25% based on the January 11, 2014 update.  These were companies that experienced previous Panda and/or Phantom hits, have been working on fixing their content problems, and saw an increase in Google organic traffic during the UCJan14 update.

Notice the uptick in impressions and clicks starting on January 11th:

Positive Impact from Panda UJan2014

It’s important to note that several of the companies did not recover fully to pre-Panda or pre-Phantom levels, but they definitely saw a nice increase.  Remember, there’s a reason the sites got hit by Panda in the first place.  The content that was once ranking well and driving traffic shouldn’t have been ranking that well in the first place…  which led to a lot of traffic with serious engagement issues.  And serious engagement issues (like extremely low dwell time), can cause a Panda attack.  More context about that situation in my Search Engine Watch column about the sinister surge before Panda strikes.

Others Benefiting From the Drop
In addition to websites recovering from Panda, I noticed a number of companies simply benefiting from the hits others were taking.  For example, if certain companies drop out of the rankings, then others take their place.  Those companies were simply benefiting from the drop in rankings of January Panda victims.

For example, here’s the trending for a site that directly competes with a Panda victim I analyzed.  Notice the jump starting around January 11, 2014.

A website benefiting from Panda UJan2014

A Note About Expedia – Was it Panda Versus a Manual Action?
It sure looks that way to me.  Nobody knows for sure other than Google and Expedia, but the drop occurred exactly when I saw the January Panda update.  Check out the trending below based on Search Metrics data.

Was Expedia Hit by Panda UJan2014?

That’s just something to think about since many people believe that Expedia was hit by an unnatural links penalty.  I tend to think it was Panda instead.  That said, I would have to heavily analyze the keywords that were impacted, the content that was once ranking, etc. to better determine if that was the case.

Summary – The Importance of Monitoring Cloaked Panda Updates
As I explained above, it’s getting extremely difficult to identify Panda updates.  They are supposed to roll out monthly, take ten days to fully roll out, but Google won’t confirm when the updates occur.  For the average business owner, this is a recipe for serious confusion when organic search trending takes a dive.

My goal with posts like this one is to provide as much data as I can with regard to major algorithm updates so webmasters can take the appropriate actions to rectify the problems at hand.  Without understanding the specific algorithm update that hits a website, companies could struggle with deciphering the root cause of the problem.  And that could easily lead to spinning wheels, or in a worst case scenario, implementing changes that actually make the situation worse SEO-wise.  Moving forward, I’ll try and document subsequent Panda updates the best I can.

But hold on… has the next Panda update already rolled out??  There’s a lot of chatter about a February update and I am seeing movement across sites hit by Panda (starting around February 11th).  It very well could be Panda UFeb14.  The timing makes a lot of sense as well, since the last update was exactly one month ago.  I’ll know more in a few days once more data comes in.  Stay tuned.  :)

GG

 

 

Filed Under: algorithm-updates, google, seo

Connect with Glenn Gabe today!

Latest Blog Posts

  • How to compare hourly sessions in Google Analytics 4 to track the impact from major Google algorithm updates (like broad core updates)
  • It’s all in the (site) name: 9 tips for troubleshooting why your site name isn’t showing up properly in the Google search results
  • Google Explore – The sneaky mobile content feed that’s displacing rankings in mobile search and could be eating clicks and impressions
  • Bing Chat in the Edge Sidebar – An AI companion that can summarize articles, provide additional information, and even generate new content as you browse the web
  • The Google “Code Red” That Triggered Thousands of “Code Reds” at Publishers: Bard, Bing Chat, And The Potential Impact of AI in the Search Results
  • Continuous Scroll And The GSC Void: Did The Launch Of Continuous Scroll In Google’s Desktop Search Results Impact Impressions And Clicks? [Study]
  • How to analyze the impact of continuous scroll in Google’s desktop search results using Analytics Edge and the GSC API
  • Percent Human: A list of tools for detecting lower-quality AI content
  • True Destination – Demystifying the confusing, but often accurate, true destination url for redirects in Google Search Console’s coverage reporting
  • Google’s September 2022 Broad Core Product Reviews Update (BCPRU) – The complexity and confusion when major algorithm updates overlap

Web Stories

  • Google’s December 2021 Product Reviews Update – Key Findings
  • Google’s April 2021 Product Reviews Update – Key Points For Site Owners and Affiliate Marketers
  • Google’s New Page Experience Signal
  • Google’s Disqus Indexing Bug
  • Learn more about Web Stories developed by Glenn Gabe

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • GSQi Home
  • About Glenn Gabe
  • SEO Services
  • Blog
  • Contact GSQi
Copyright © 2023 G-Squared Interactive LLC. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Are you ok with the site using cookies? You can opt-out at a later time if you wish. Cookie settings ACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. You can read our privacy policy for more information.
Cookie Consent