Panda, Penguin....Google Animals

[4little1s]

Hi,

I was wondering if there was a simple reference sheet of what all the various Google updates that keep happening are .....but in non technical langauge !

I have heard of Panda and Penguin but not completely sure what they did and what to look out for to stay within its boundaries....are there other Google Animals people know of ?

Aplogies if this is a bit of a basic question but want to do the right thing when it comes to SEO.

Thanks,

 

[OldWelshGuy]

2012
Jan-18 panda 3.2 Thin Content
Jan-19 Ads above the fold Lowered trust on advert heavy pages
Feb-27 Venice local ads Altered the way local ads are shown
Feb-24 Panda 3.3 Thin Content
Mar-23 Panda 3.4 Thin Content
Apr-19 Panda 3.5 Thin Content
Apr-24 Penguin Poor Quality Link Footprint
Apr-27 Panda 3.6 Thin Content
May-25 Penguin 1.1 Poor Quality Link Footprint
Jun-08 Panda 3.7 Thin Content
Jun-25 Panda 3.8 Thin Content
Jul-24 Panda 3.9 Thin Content
Aug-20 Panda 3.9.1 Thin Content
Sep-18 Panda 3.9.2 Thin Content
Sep-27 Panda Thin Content
Sep-27 Exact Match Domain Lowered the benefit of an EMD
Oct-05 Penguin 3 Poor Quality Link Footprint
Oct-09 Page Layout 2 Update of jan 19 algo update
Nov-05 Panda 21 Thin Content
Nov-21 Panda 22 Thin Content
Dec-21 Panda 23 Thin Content

2013
Jan-17 Unconfirmed large movement Google denied update
Jan-23 Pand 24 Thin content

 

[MarcusMiller]

Hey,

You could start by looking at what these updates do but in all honesty, that is not the best use of your time (it's not the best use of my time as a detail obsessed SEO but that's another story).

Google publish a series of guidelines that detail what is okay, and not so okay so as long as you study those and stay within those guidelines then you are fine:

http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769

Ultimately, you are best concentrating on how to build a great site, how to help your users (and potential prospects) and how to promote your site by making it a useful resource supporting your business objectives.

Hope that helps!
Marcus

 

[tiina5704]

I am not an expert but know quite a few people who lost all their #1 page rankings when those above were put into place, so now people need to see proper SEO not made by SEO programs... which is good for us who don't use programs and only look for the best keywords as etc...

 

[seowise]

This iconagraphic seems relevant to answer the question:

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/7-seo-apocalypses-that-never-happened-with-infographics/

Just a brief summary of seven most prominent Google updates starting from 2003.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

From which you might perceive that SEO is Still Alive and Kickin'...

 

[rashisree]

Google Zebra is going to impact all your social media marketing efforts.

 

[Ali-v-8]

Well I think this is the correct thread to point out that Panda and Penguin are just sub cats of the main projects which was Farmer.

its like saying Wordpress 3.5.1 - instead replace Wordpress with farmer and take a look at then Penguin and Panda are changes made within the main project.

 

[Ali-v-8]

sorry going to start a thread instead

 

[webgeek]

Having a quick cheat sheet is handy for comparing to your analytics or rankings reports and looking to understand what event is to blame.

However, knowing that Venice or Panda or unnamed January 17 update were 'what happened', that alone won't tell you what needs fixing to repair or avoid future recurrence.

Panda could mean page content was thin, too many footer links on the page, duplicate content, too many ads above the fold, etc.

There's a bit of study required to really have a grasp on these updates, some of which are understood via testing, colleague data and a bit of luck

 

[RedEvo]

The Panda update was actually named after Navneet Panda, not the white bear

d

 

[JRAD]

Having a quick cheat sheet is handy for comparing to your analytics or rankings reports and looking to understand what event is to blame.

However, knowing that Venice or Panda or unnamed January 17 update were 'what happened', that alone won't tell you what needs fixing to repair or avoid future recurrence.

Panda could mean page content was thin, too many footer links on the page, duplicate content, too many ads above the fold, etc.

There's a bit of study required to really have a grasp on these updates, some of which are understood via testing, colleague data and a bit of luck

It looks like there is no one single solution to solve the problems of a fall in ranking. The plan now wioll be to reduce the number fo links included in articles, particluarly where these are closely linked to our property management keywords.
Thanks foir all the advice.