Google has released yet another refreshed Panda update that they claim will affect only 0.7% of queries. Although the percentage does seem low, the cumulative percentage of queries being affected since the first Panda was launched seems to be quite significant.
The first Panda update was released on February 24, 2011 and Google stated that it was a major update that would affect around 11.8% of queries due to the revised algorithm. This was followed by a minor update on April 11, 2011 that affected 2% of queries.
Since then, Google has been consistently rolling out minor updates almost on a monthly basis that affect between 0 to 6% of queries. Since Google has not provided any suffix number to its updates, several experts have begun providing their own numbers to keep track of these updates.
Google simply announces whenever it has released a refreshed Panda on to its users. Till this date, Goggle has released almost 20 Panda updates that collectively seem to impact around 30% of queries in case one includes non-English languages, which in turn is truly a huge number.
Webmasters too need to follow such updates closely as well as monitor the impact each update has on their website or websites. The company’s strategy to push down bad websites and reward good ones with higher rankings seems to have webmasters scrambling to ensure that their websites are not caught unawares after a new update.
A few websites have been encouraging webmasters and viewers to air their views on the numerous updates released by Google. While most webmasters seem to be happy with their revised rankings, a few do seem confused when their websites have slid down the charts.
Google has been giving minor tweaks to Panda on a regular basis based on its own research of previous updates. However, webmasters need to study the effects of each update closely to understand the impact that it will have on their websites and change their strategies accordingly.