What were you hoping to get for Christmas this year? We’re betting it probably wasn’t another Google Panda Update. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what was under the tree.
Just before the holiday weekend, rumors of a Google algorithm update were swirling with people commenting on signs of a major update seemingly in the works. On Friday, Google confirmed these whisperings with a post to their Twitter page announcing that they had indeed pushed out yet another Panda data refresh that day.
Unlike with the last Panda update, which affected only about 0.8% of English queries, according to Google’s announcement, this time, about 1.3% of English queries will be “noticeably affected.”
Even with all the changes and improvements in SEO strategy we’ve made over the years, it’s still hard to believe that this is the 23rd Panda update since the first algorithm refresh back at the start of 2011. It’s also surprising that Google chose to release this data refresh just before Christmas—unlike last year when they waited until the end of the holiday season to update the Panda algorithm. But don’t worry, Google did acknowledge the holidays in their own way, with a present of sorts to go along with the latest Panda: a little refresher on some Panda-friendly site building advice from their webmasters that was given back when the first Panda hit the scene nearly 2 years ago.