Google Panda is Google’s search algorithm, acting as a content quality filter for its search engine rankings. But why does it matter for ecommerce websites?
The Google Panda algorithm was first rolled out by Google in February 2011, aiming to promote high-quality content sites through lowering the rankings of low-quality content sites. Since then, the search engine has released other Panda updates, which have affected a number of websites.
For ecommerce enterpreneurs, Google Panda offers lessons on what to do and not do on your website. The main lesson? Avoid poor-quality content?
Poor-quality content – which includes duplicate content – can lower your site’s ranking through Google Panda. Even if your site has a lot of unique, relevant, original content, the poor-quality stuff can still damage your site.
Unfortunately, this can be a problem for ecommerce websites, as it is difficult to describe products differently from your competitors. While it would be hard to imagine an ecommerce site with 100% unique content, it’s important you try to have as much unique content as possible to avoid being marked as “low quality” by Google Panda.
The Google Webmaster Central blog offers some insight into what you need to be careful with:
* Does the site have duplicate, overlapping or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
* Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
* Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
* Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs less attention to detail?
* Does this article have spelling, stylistic or factual errors?
Google Panda also emphasises the importance of “legal” SEO: focus on unique content (ie don’t duplicate others’ content!) and concentrate on authority (ie how valuable/strong is the content on your ecommerce site?).
Google releases update to Google Panda several times per year – the latest update was in September 2012 – so it is important to keep on top of the updates.
If your website sees a significant decrease in traffic after an update, do not fret! All is not lost. Google recommends that, should your ecommerce website be affected by a Google Panda update, you try to improve your site – remove the low-quality content, improve your SEO (white hat only!) and ask Google to reinstate your ranking.
Speak Your Mind