Google Panda – Search Results Ranking Algorithm

What is Google Panda Algorithm?

Google Panda is created to alter the Google Search Engine’s ranking algorithm, which has been implemented in the search results ranking from February 2011.

It was purely targeted to boost the good quality sites by growing their rank in search result and decreasing the rank of those sites which are “low-quality sites” or “thin sites” in terms of content.

Panda Update from Google is developed primarily to provide right and rich user experience in terms of search result.

CNET reported a surge in the rankings of news websites and social networking sites, and a drop in rankings for sites containing large amounts of advertising. This change reportedly affected the rankings of almost 12 percent of all search results.

Soon after the Panda rollout, many websites, including Google’s webmaster forum, became filled with complaints of scrapers/copyright infringers getting better rankings than sites with original content. At one point, Google publicly asked for data points to help detect scrapers better. Google’s Panda has received several updates since the original rollout in February 2011, and the effect went global in April 2011.

To help affected publishers, Google published an advisory on its blog, thus giving some direction for self-evaluation of a website’s quality. Google has provided a list of 23 bullet points on its blog answering the question of “What counts as a high-quality site?” that is supposed to help webmasters “step into Google’s mindset”.

List of all releases of Google Search Algorithm – Panda till now:

Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 1, Feb. 24, 2011 (11.8% of queries; announced; English in US only)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 2, April 11, 2011 (2% of queries; announced; rolled out in English internationally)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 3, May 10, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 4, June 16, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 5, July 23, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 6, Aug. 12, 2011 (6-9% of queries in many non-English languages; announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 7, Sept. 28, 2011 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 8, Oct. 19, 2011 (about 2% of queries; belatedly confirmed)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 9, Nov. 18, 2011: (less than 1% of queries; announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 10, Jan. 18, 2012 (no change given; confirmed, not announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 11, Feb. 27, 2012 (no change given; announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 12, March 23, 2012 (about 1.6% of queries impacted; announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 13, April 19, 2012 (no change given; belatedly revealed)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 14, April 27, 2012: (no change given; confirmed; first update within days of another)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 15, June 9, 2012: (1% of queries; belatedly announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 16, June 25, 2012: (about 1% of queries; announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 17, July 24, 2012:(about 1% of queries; announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 18, Aug. 20, 2012: (about 1% of queries; belatedly announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 19, Sept. 18, 2012: (less than 0.7% of queries; announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 20 , Sep. 27, 2012 (2.4% English queries, impacted, belatedly announced
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 21, Nov. 5, 2012 (1.1% of English-language queries in US; 0.4% worldwide; confirmed, not announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 22, Nov. 21, 2012 (0.8% of English queries were affected; confirmed, not announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 23, Dec. 21, 2012 (1.3% of English queries were affected; confirmed, announced)
Google Search Algorithm – Panda Update 24, Jan. 22, 2013 (1.2% of English queries were affected; confirmed, announced)