Google Panda 3.3 and evaluation of other February updates

Google substantiated its latest Panda update on February 27th and it simultaneously declared the 40 search updates. It would be a taxing task to explain all the changes that have come to be and we would alternatively discuss the changes that deserve immediate attention. These will be the updates that still have search engine marketers as well as industry experts talking. But first let us look at Panda 3.3.

A little about Panda

Panda is Google’s first penalty measure and it specifically targets the content on webpages that it labels not up to mark and think in substance. It’s known as an update due to the periodical nature of the said filter. It works by the simple principle of content that has been enhanced to be safe from the filter and the poor content getting jammed by Panda. Panda is just one of more than 200 ranking factors that Google utilizes to make its searches even more significant. Panda 2.4 successfully affected all international Google networks. If a website wishes to escape getting trapped by any of the Panda updates then there is no option but to develop credible website content.

It has been more than one year since Panda was first launched in the United States, subsequent to which Panda 2.4 went international in August last year.

What the Panda update means

Google said that the update rejuvenated the Panda arrangement data, helping it to become even more reliable and responsive to changes over the internet. The 3.3 update can be compared to the previous Panda 3.2 which rolled out last January. The algorithm didn’t undergo any changes, it was just refreshed and by refreshed we mean made to run again. Early reactions reveal that a few websites received a traffic elevation while some were affected negatively.

Other noteworthy Google changes

As declared by Google in the 40 changes for February post on the official Google Search Blog, let us now talk about a couple of the changes that require our instant attention.

Link evaluation

Google has reportedly confirmed that it is indeed doing away with an evaluation signal for links that has been around for a long time. This particular point has roused a lot of discussion among the industry experts.

Google noted that to be able to understand what the topic or theme for a particular linked page, it utilizes the link characteristics. There have been changes regarding the method in which these links are being evaluated by Google. The search engine giant also says that there is constant restructuring and switching on and off of its scoring system to have a better and improved Google search experience for the users.

Though there is ample confusion in the minds of most SEO experts regarding what this particular link evaluation method is, it is best left for speculation as Google doesn’t give away anything other than what it puts on its official blog.

Changes in local search rankings

This particular bit was a little surprising for many because of Google’s history of being guarded regarding its various and continuous updates. Google revealed that many of its ranking algorithms that are of a traditional nature are currently essential to churn out its local search results.   The main search result rankings are playing a bigger part in concocting the local search results.

Since the time that the places search segment has been launched by Google, conventional search engine optimization techniques seem to be more important for the local search results.

One more interesting point made was that a fresh technique to locate results from the city in which the user resides is being utilized and reports suggest that it is much more dependable. User inquiries and documents are successfully determined if they are local in nature.

Parting note

Other updates like a precise official webpage recognition, size expansion of image searches and snippets that have the right info for your shopping needs are noticed as well.  All in all Google seems to be suggesting that the February changes and new Panda update have made changes for fresh content, links and other searches related to the aforementioned points.

Interestingly, small website blog owners have voiced their grievances regarding the new updates as it is getting increasingly difficult for some of them to rank well on Google.