Google Panda 4.1 Update Announced

Last week Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google UK, Pierre Far, announced via Google+ that a new Panda update was rolling out. This update is already taking effect and should have finished rolling out by next week. Many websites have reported fluctuations in rankings and the resulting website traffic already, but how will this latest update affect your rankings and what can you do to protect your website?

What’s the point of this update?

According to Pierre Far, this latest update to the Panda algorithm is aimed at penalising low quality (spammy) content and rewarding good quality user focused content. The 4.1 Panda update is simply an improvement on the work of the first Panda update. Based on additional information gained from user feedback and webmaster feedback this algorithm can more accurately identify low quality content and it’s said that around 3 - 5% of search queries will be affected in this Panda 4.1 update.

The repercussions

As this is essentially furthering the work of previous Panda updates, the good news is that if you have already been penalised and made the right ‘white hat’ steps to correct the issues which you were penalised for, you could see benefits from this update. If you only produce quality content either, on-page or off-page then you shouldn’t have much to worry about with this latest Panda update.

Keep on top of the updates

The full effects of the updates are yet to be seen and we will be keeping you up-to-date as more information becomes available.

If you’re worried that Panda 4.1 might have a negative impact on your website then read our guide or blog post on how to recover from Google Panda. If you would like to stay ahead of the ever-changing world of digital marketing, sign up to our guest list and get the latest insights from our team of experts delivered fresh to your inbox.