Content farms were primary targets of the Panda update, and they epitomize the kind of low-quality content that Google is trying to eliminate. Content farms like Demand Studios pay writers to create thousands of articles per month. These articles are typically poorly written and poorly researched. Google had to act when these types of sites started monopolizing the top slots in the search engine rankings, and Panda was how it chose to do so. Content farms weren’t the only targets. “Scraper” sites, which scrape lift content from existing sites and post it again to achieve more prominent rankings, were also put on the chopping block.

If your site’s ranking has suffered because of Panda, don’t panic. You can remove or improve the content on your site to get back where you were. The next time an update is performed, your site’s ranking should improve. The best way to avoid being dinged by Panda is by enhancing and improving the quality of the content on your site. Make sure that every last piece is completely original. Furthermore, comb through it to remove grammatical errors, misspellings and other issues. Well-written content is vital. Once the content on your site is solid and original, it should climb back up in the rankings.

Understanding Google’s Penguin Update

Google unleashed Penguin on April 24, 2012, so it came out a little over a year after Panda. In many ways, it is a natural extension of Panda. However, it goes after sites that use spammy techniques to achieve high rankings. This update goes after sites that blatantly go against Google’s quality guidelines. In other words, it looks for black-hat SEO techniques and penalizes sites that engage in them. Basically, it was designed to thwart people who rebounded from Panda but used sketchy tactics in order to do so. Read more about Panda and Penguin and get ahead in the SEO game.