After waiting almost 10 months, Google’s Panda 4.2 is finally here! Google announced that the refresh started this past weekend, but it will take months to completely roll out. As a quick reminder for those that forgot, Google Panda is an algorithm designed to lower the rank of “low-quality” websites.
Google updates and refreshes Panda from time to time in order to hit the websites that may have slipped through in the past, or for the ones that have made poor changes since the last update. It has been almost 10 months since the last update, as it happened during September of 2014. Google has said this update affected 2%-3% of English language search queries.
This update has the ability to make it or break it for many websites. It provides a new chance for some and a kick down the rankings for others. The rollout also means that those penalized in the past have a chance to bounce back and emerge if the right changes were made. With this Panda update, you may actually see your rankings drop slowly over time. This gradual decrease may make it more difficult to notice, compared to past updates where you would see a significant drop in traffic immediately.
If you have built your website up to Google’s standards, you should have nothing to worry about. Keep your eyes open for any drops or keep your eyes open as you could pass your competition.