There’s no minimum or maximum word count that Panda takes into account. The idea of writing more than your competitors to gain a strategic advantage is unfounded as this would be something that spammers could easily exploit.
Sites hit by Panda can still rank. Often, a site is hit algorithmically due to a large amount of thin or poor quality content. However, if there’s still content on the site that users find valuable and relevant, these pages will still rank.
Duplicate content is a completely separate issue to Google Panda. Pages containing duplicate content are unlikely to rank ahead of the original sites/pages.
Panda does not take 404 pages into account. This would make it easy for spammers or competitor sites to point lots of links at non-existent URLs.
Excessive adverts ‘above the fold’ should be avoided – this detracts from the the content on the page, which should be the main focus.
What type of content may result in a Panda penalty?
- Google Panda cracks down on:
- Over-optimization (keyword stuffing and repetitive content)
- Copied (scraped) content
- Thin or low quality content
- Replicated or otherwise unnatural content
How will I know if I’ve got a Panda penalty?
Your first clue will be a dramatic drop in traffic. If you have been impacted by Google Panda, your visibility will not improve and traffic will not return to your site until you fix the issue on your website that caused it. And as Panda is an algorithmic penalty, this means that even once you’ve resolved the underlying issue(s), you’ll have to wait for the algorithm to be run again for the penalty to be lifted to get your rankings back, which could be several months.
How can I avoid a Google Panda penalty?
- Follow the SURE rule: your site content should be Substantial, Unique, Relevant and Engaging.
- Don’t stuff your content full of keywords – they should appear naturally within the text.
- Make sure your site has a low ad-to-content ratio.
- Establish yourself as an industry thought leader.
Can my brand’s website benefit from Google Panda?
- Publishing high quality, original content that people want to read and share is the key to content success. So the good news is that if your brand’s content is great and adds value for the user, then Panda is likely to reward you with better rankings.
- An action plan for optimising your content:
- Fully analyse your content to identify areas for improvement.
- Identify long tail opportunities by carrying out effective keyword research.
- Ensure your content enhances a user’s perception of your site’s overall value (expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness).
- Give enough detail in your content to answer your readers’ questions.
Source: Click
