Google recently released an update to Panda, its search algorithm dedicated to penalizing websites with poor quality content. Google announced that the latest version of Panda, 4.1, would be implemented on September 25th, but would take a while to completely roll out.
In other words, it may be some time before site owners see a substantial impact on their SEO.
Panda 4.1 is Google’s 27th update to the algorithm, which was originally released in 2011, and allows small to medium-sized websites with quality content to rank better in search results.
In addition to sticking up for the little guys, Google adds that the update will help it be more “precise” in its evaluation of a website’s content quality.
The initial update was said to only affect about 3-5% of search queries. Those numbers are likely to increase, but according to Google, at a slower pace than most in the SEO community might have anticipated.
How does this affect my website and SEO?
The fact that Panda 4.1 is still rolling out gives webmasters more time to clean up the content on their website. Ensure that each page on your website is as thorough and descriptive as possible. However, do not mistake quality content for stuffing keywords into every available section of your site.
Google is in the business of quickly and accurately providing users with relevant information. Quality content still reigns supreme in the eyes of Google, and the search engine leader will continue to penalize sites that stuff keywords or steal content from others. Fresh, evergreen content, that is relevant to users, is still the best policy.