Google announced in July 2015 that the Panda 4.2 update would be rolling out over the next couple months. It reapplied the same signals as previous versions and was the last data refresh before the filter was integrated into the search engine’s core algorithm. This implied that Panda was stable enough and no longer needed significant modifications.
Panda was developed under Google’s overarching goal of delivering the best results for a user’s query by weeding out links with thin content in the SERPs. It devalued the rankings of websites that didn’t provide valuable information to searchers and boosted visibility for creators of original and unique content.
Panda 4.2 was a data refresh and reapplied the same signals from version 4.1. A significant target of the previous update was affiliate marketing sites that didn’t have useful content and only acted as a gateway for users to visit their partner websites through a seemingly endless list of links.
This update affected approximately two to three percent of queries, which is pretty small compared to the previous version’s impact of three to five percent. Nonetheless, it did provide a chance for websites to redeem themselves if they got hit by the filter before as long as they made the appropriate and necessary enhancements. Some blogs, particularly high-quality small and medium sites, experienced gradual improvements in their rankings when Panda 4.2 rolled out while others weren’t as fortunate.
Panda 4.2 was to be the last major data refresh for the filter since Google announced in early 2016 that it’d be integrated into the search engine’s core algorithm as a weighty ranking signal. The developers confirmed that Panda is able to stand on its own and do its function without too much human intervention.
Now that Panda has become one of the more critical filters that influences your rankings, you should take into consideration the quality of content that each of your pages has. Thin, duplicate, and useless content will affect your position in the SERPs, so make sure to write in-depth articles that offer valuable and relevant information to users regarding their queries.
Here are a few tips to boost content quality:
These are two ways to know what people are talking about in your niche: