Google's Panda Update Begs the Removal of Low-Quality Content

Improve it or remove it.

With Google's Panda Update, low-quality content can impact an entire domain, but removing these pages -- or moving them to a different domain -- can help your rankings, says Google's Michael Wyszomierski.

In an update to a post created in Google Webmaster Central last week seeking feedback on Google's latest algorithmic change, he tried to offer some additional guidance to sites that have been impacted:

"Our recent update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites, so the key thing for webmasters to do is make sure their sites are the highest quality possible…It's important for webmasters to know that low quality content on part of a site can impact a site's ranking as a whole. For this reason, if you believe you've been impacted by this change you should evaluate all the content on your site and do your best to improve the overall quality of the pages on your domain. Removing low quality pages or moving them to a different domain could help your rankings for the higher quality content.”

Once again, eHow is high-quality? While Google stands behind this update, they still aren't spilling many secrets or offering any advice -- even they admit their algorithm can be gamed. SEOs and webmasters are still trying to figure it all out, but here are some issues many agree you should look at.

Check Your Analytics

It all comes down to math. As we look at why Google's Panda Update dropped sites, the most important thing we must remember is that this is likely all based on data -- search logs, click-throughs, analytics, toolbar data, traffic, etc.

To see where you went wrong and how to solve the problem, I recommend checking your bounce rates first. Figure out which pages dropped in the SERPs and look at them with a critical eye. If your page has a 100 percent bounce rate and little traffic, do you think Google will view it as high quality? Then, see if you can improve or update underperforming pages. If not, or if it's outdated, seems Google is saying just remove it from the site.

Original, Well-Written Content

When the Panda Update was announced, Google said this algorithm was designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites (not eliminate them, as there are plenty of scraper sites still populating the SERPs).

What does Google consider high-quality? Original content and information: research, in-depth reports, and thoughtful analysis. Unfortunately, "quality" is vague and subjective. There will probably never be complete agreement on what constitutes a "quality" website.

Quality Over Quantity

Just as Google's Panda Update is filtering out low-quality sites, Kristi Hines says its time to say goodbye to low-quality link building. If Google is indeed re-ranking or rescoring sites based on associations, now might not be the best time to associated with a lot of low quality sources.

Will Google Fill in the Gaps Left by Panda?

Patrick Altoft and Bill Slawski have both previously written about a Google patent application showing how a search engine can identify inadequate search content based on statistics associated with search queries and then share this information with content creators/providers.

"The patent basically covers a system for identifying search queries which have low quality content and then asking either publishers or the people searching for that topic to create some better content themselves," Altoft wrote. "The system takes into account the volume of searches when looking at the quality of the content so for bigger keywords the content would need to be better in order for Google to not need to suggest somebody else writes something."

Google long ago evolved from being a pure search engine. So will Google really take this next step and devise a method to fill in gaps for searches with low-quality results by actually producing content, which it will then no doubt give top rankings to?

As Frank Watson noted in "Really Google? Penalizing Good Sites To Get Some Bad Ones," the Panda update is further proof of the value of SEO. Indeed, many sites without knowledge of SEO have become collateral damage as Google has tried to get rid of a few bad apples.

Have you noticed any other possible factors that can harm or help websites rank in the post-Panda world? Let us know in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.

About the Author: Lauren Abbott

As Paid Search Specialist, Lauren Abbott is responsible for creating, optimizing, and overall management of all paid search campaigns for Off Madison Ave clients. Lauren identifies trends and opportunities that can be applied for accounts to constantly help our clients see a better return on investment. She also is responsible for developing and implementing new strategies to help keep Off Madison Ave clients a step ahead of their competition. Most recently, Lauren worked as a search marketing consultant for a national online advertising company. Lauren graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing from the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.

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