Google Panda has the dubious distinction of being one of the first “shockwave” algorithm updates that Google unleashed upon the SEO community. In the Fall of 2011, this ravaging bear came rampaging through the internet, punishing those businesses and websites that only were crafting and publishing content to game search engines, while doing nothing to serve actual users.
Prior to Panda, several companies had based their business model on one of web content arbitrage. Essentially they would buy and post cheap content, rank for highly valued terms, and the traffic and advertising revenue would create their profit margin. It was a deviously simple way to game the system, and truth be told it’s amazing it lasted as long as it did.
However, the post-Panda era of web content creation is one that requires a bit more good old elbow grease to get search engine eyeballs on your work. Accordingly, there are very specific guidelines that Google themselves outlined in a blog post that Los Angeles-based Search Marketing Firm Wpromote have crafted into an Infographic (the original is actually an animated GIF… funny)
The Infographic is based on Google’s own “how-to” guide that they published in the wake of Panda. That document was designed to challenge users and content creator to objectively review their content and ask themselves a very difficult question: “Do I really need to publish this? Does this add ANY value to a conversation?”
And of course, if the answer to that very heavy query is indeed “No” then it’s highly likely that your content would get “Panda’ed” out of the SERPs, so you’re better off doing some revisions.
Yes, the heady days of cheating Google out of relevance by smattering your website haphazardly with bad content have gone the way of the Dodo Bird, and it’s for the best. Truth be told, the web and the world are a lot cleaner and less chaotic without the scourge of search engine spam gumming up the Google gears for nefarious fun and profit. And as a result, those of us who work in web content are all probably a little more honest because of this Panda. So for that we can all be thankful.
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