Google Panda 4.0 Now Rolling Out; A New Panda Algorithm

Last night was pretty wild, with Google confirming an update over the weekend targeting spammy queries and also Google's Matt Cutts posting on Twitter that Panda 4.0 was released.

This is a new Panda algorithm, not a refresh that we've seen almost monthly but enough for Google to name this 4.0, which means a new algorithm update to it.
Google's Matt Cutts told us at Search Engine Land that this Panda 4.0 update impacts ~7.5% of English queries to a degree that a regular user might notice.

Also when I spoke to Matt Cutts, he made it sound like this update may appear gentler for some sites but it does lay the groundwork to future changes in the direction of a softer and gentler Panda algorithm.

This began rolling out yesterday and is unrelated to the Google Spam Algorithm 2.0 released over the weekend and unrelated to anything Penguin.

So no, I was not crazy expecting something big that happened over the weekend and throughout the month and this week. Even though Google said nothing is going on, we've been seeing signs of major changes and ranking shifts all throughout the month. I suspect those were tests for both this Google Spam Algorithm version 2.0 and the Panda 4.0 release.

Here is some of the history on the Panda update, but to dig deeper, see our Panda category.

• Panda #25 on March 15, 2013
• Panda #24 on January 22, 2013
• Panda #23 on December 21, 2012
• Panda #22 on November 21st
• Panda #22 on November 21st
• Panda #21 on November 5th
• Panda #20 on September 27th
• Panda 3.9.2 on September 18th
• Panda 3.9.1 on August 20th
• Panda 3.9 on July 24th
• Panda 3.8 on June 25th
• Panda 3.7 on June 9th
• Panda 3.6 on April 27th
• Panda 3.5 on April 19th
• Panda 3.4 on March 23rd
• Panda 3.3 on about February 26th
• Panda 3.2 on about January 15th
• Panda 3.1 on November 18th
• Panda 2.5.3 on October 19/20th
• Panda 2.5.2 on October 13th
• Panda 2.5.1 on October 9th
• Panda 2.5 on September 28th
• Panda 2.4 in August
• Panda 2.3 on around July 22nd.
• Panda 2.2 on June 18th or so.
• Panda 2.1 on May 9th or so.
• Panda 2.0 on April 11th or so.
• Panda 1.0 on February 24th

Google stopped confirming Panda updates last year and then started doing rolling updates but that doesn't mean they haven't done work on fine tuning the algo. They softened it recently and there have been refreshes monthly, some larger than others but it is hard to know if it was Panda or something else.

Over the next few days, we are going to need to look at our analytics and isolate if we were impacted by one of these algorithms. I'll ask you to fill out a poll in the near future and share those results.

Forum discussion at Twitter, BlackHatWorld, Google+, Google Webmaster Help, DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld.

How to check your SEO : Penguin 2.0 with new spam filters now live

one months ago of anticipation, Google’s Matt Cutts has alerted search marketers that the next iteration of Penguin – with new spam-fighting 2.0 technology – is now live. Cutts said the updated algorithm was rolling out “within the next few hours” during the latest episode of This Week in Google. (Please note at press time, May 22′s episode #199 is not yet available for listening.) The update is poised to take sharper aim at spam backlinks, refining how Google punishes sites that attempt to boost SEO with link schemes instead of merit-based web content. Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Land first reported on the announcement, quoting Cutts as saying that 2.3 percent of English queries will be impacted by this update.  

Penguin 2.0: A long time in the making 

 Succeeding in SEO will be the same as it’s always been if you’re doing it right – give the users a great experience. – Matt Cutts, March 2013 After the first Google Penguin was released in April of 2012, Google has consistently released updates every few months, with Penguin 1.1 arriving in the following month and Penguin 1.2 released in October 2012. Marketers have anticipated another Penguin update, and at March’s SMX West conference, Cutts hinted that the next version was around the corner. He noted it would be “one of the most talked about algorithms of the year.”  

Building on Penguin’s intolerance of link schemes 

The new technology – and predicted 2.3 percent of impacted queries – suggests this will be a stronger algorithm. This follows the trend of Penguin’s increased robustness, based on Portent data previously covered by Brafton. The first Penguin update impacted sites with 80 percent spam links, but Google continued to refine its algorithm with each new iteration. By the time Penguin 1.2 was released, Google was able to detect and punish sites with just 50 percent spam links, according to Portent.  

What do we know about Penguin 2.0? 

If using the disavow tool – disavow the entire domain. – Matt Cutts, March 2013 The jury is out on exactly how this will impact sites. Marketers who are using custom content as organic linkbait and investing in social experiences that draw natural social links should be safe … Cutts was also quick to point out in a video earlier this month that internal links are unlikely to draw the ire of Penguin – as long as sites are not abusing internal linking privileges with excessive use of exact-match anchor text. 

At the same conference where Cutts warned about the upcoming Penguin release, he emphasized some “future of SEO” checkpoints that marketers may want to consider. Here are a few quick quotes on recovery and why links will always matter: “

• If using the disavow tool – disavow the entire domain.” 
• Links still have many, many good years ahead of them … “ “
• We like standards that are available on the open web. If we’re not able to crawl something – like Facebook or like the time we temporarily ran into problems with Twitter – we don’t want to depend on that data.” 
• You can also check out more information on specific signs to look for from Brafton’s earlier post about Penguin warning signs.