Google Panda update – a boon for searchers, a curse for some websites

It is difficult to believe that Panda update did turn out to be an extremely effective cure regarding discouraging website owners to fill the web pages of their websites with useless or non-relevant content. There is no doubt that the majority of users do prefer to rely on Google in comparison to other search engines, for gaining information. Google has clearly taken a lead regarding user base, which prefer to make the use of Google. But so far Google was unable to offer relevant information, which were searched out by users. After rolling out Panda update. Google made this thing very clear that it is not going to tolerate nonsense content anymore and this time it is extremely serious about offering quality content to its users.

There was a time when users would require slogging hard regarding finding to-the-point information. The number of those websites which did intend to bluff users, merely for the sake of enhancing their ranking or enhancing the traffic on their sites, was more in comparison to the genuine websites, featuring relevant content. Indeed, it became need of the hour to curb those web pages, due to which, users would end up in wasting their precious time. Google decided to put a control on such sites, which were filled with worthless content and would make the users irritated to a great extent. The Panda update released by Google meant for putting a check on shallow results and it did succeed largely in its endeavor. Now, it is quite evident that the quality of results on search engine pages, have really improved a lot than earlier.

However, while praising about Panda update, we need to consider another side of the Panda update. It is undeniable that due to Panda update, the quality of search pages have enhanced but at the same time, lots of genuine websites got affected due to this update, since they were penalized by Google, as in accordance to Google, they were featuring shallow content. No doubt, dealing with a Google penalty, literally turned out to be nightmare for business owners as they feared losing their businesses and eventually ended up in losing businesses, which were established with lot of hard work.

It is obvious that, where at one side, for users, Panda update proved to be a saving grace, since they were badly disappointed with the quality of information on search pages, on another side, for businesses, this update turned out to be a terrifying experience. Well, how justifiable a Panda update, is still an intriguing question. At one side, Google stresses that business owners should create quality content, keeping users in mind, while on another side; it stresses that business owners should have content on almost all the pages. Here comes a big question mark on Google’s guideline because, for resourceful business owners, it might not be a big problem to comply with Google guidelines but for small and medium business owners, who are equipped with limited resources, it becomes difficult to adhere to Google guidelines.

Is Google taking undue advantage of its influential position? Or, does it intend to prove to its users that, come what may, it is determined to ensure quality search experience to the users. Well, whatever reason is behind compelling the search giant to roll out updates like Panda, there is no denying to the fact that this update has played an important role in establishing or strengthening the trust of users in Google search results.

How social media is influencing SEO?


Social Media
There has been much hue and cry about SEO and social media lately. Everyone knows that social media is emerging out as a powerful weapon but the majority of people are still clueless regarding the manner in which social media is influencing SEO. Well, if we talk about social media then it is not just growing in terms of reach and size but it has started influencing the ways through which sites are optimized for search. There has been a drastic metamorphosis, in the manner in which SEO strategies are being created. Where at one side, least attention was being paid to the social media, earlier in SEO, now more emphasis is laid on ensuring social media friendliness, while designing strategy.


In order to understand that how social media influences search engine optimization strategy one need to understand about the basic concepts of social media. However, all search results do feature annotations, but Bing and Google do make use of data from social media in order to annotate some results on SERPs. The visual social info, which is being effectively displayed on annotations, does play an important role in grabbing users’ attention and which in turn, can lead to an enhanced clickthrough rate and enhanced organic search engine traffic.

The search engine uses social data in order to personalize those results, displayed by search engines, which users see, on the basis of various factors related to the social media. Those factors include network connections and social activity. ‘Search Plus Your World’ by Google lays emphasis on social media activities around Google+, but it also does take into consideration the social signals. Being a partner of Twitter and Facebook, both, Bing has far better access to data from both sides. The search engines have begun assessing the social activities in order to determine the value of content, besides determining content author’s authority.

As of now, the impact created by the social media activities in affecting overall ranking is limited but with the passage of the time, the impact is expected to grow with SEO. Sharing links across networks related to social media can really make a big difference as links from influential websites possess more power than recommendations of Google+ 1 and tweets. The majority of people come across information through social media shares, which leads them towards other information platforms like blogs. It has indeed become imperative to share posts on the social networks, if the blog is being updated frequently with fresh content.

There are few social media sites, which provide do-follow attributes. These sites are really worth giving a try. StumbleUpon is one good example among those sites. Authorship feature by Google is meant to highlight author information. By taking an advantage of this feature, one can really offer reader’s more information regarding one’s work. Search engines are trying to explore the concept related to Authorank, in order to offer favorable rankings in the search results to credible authors. To put it in a nutshell, there is no denying to the fact that in coming future, the role of social media is really going to gain more importance regarding influencing SEO strategies.