The geopolitics of the web is changing and we have Panda to thank, the Google update that rewards quality content. Already launched in February in the US and in April in the UK, Google Panda was updated on Friday the 12th in all other languages except Chinese, Japanese and Korean. The main purpose is to refine the search engine to the detriment of sites that aggregate or copy their content. Panda is not a real change in the algorithm but rather a sort of filter that is applied to the search engine and which mainly affects the aggregators of prices, discounts and product offers and the information sector. It's no longer the time for copy-paste, from now on those who are unable to process original news will be punished by the Panda.
In Europe, only between 6% and 9% of searches will be affected by the update – just under the 12% recorded in English-language searches. A percentage that seems small but has already made its first victims. The Search Metrics site has published the first results on the winners and losers of the Google update.
In France, among the sites that have lost the most visibility are wikio.fr, an online news bulletin which recorded a drop of 74,7% and code-reduction.fr, a price comparison site, which fell by 87,2%. On the other hand, video sharing sites (Youtube +52% and Wat +18%), social networks (+25% Twitter and +10% Facebook) and Wikipedia (+8%) improved. Among the news, the 30% growth of France5.fr stands out. They also increased by 17% visits to the French public administration website service-public.fr.
Even in Germany, price and offer aggregators are the sites that have recorded the greatest losses: ciao.de and kelkoo.de have lost over 50%. On the contrary, Panda Amazon (+5%), Android (+42%) and Facebook (+4%) benefited, but also the Spiegel newspaper (+2%) and Webauto (+132,77%).
Overseas there have already been numerous controversies from some webmasters who have seen the contacts on their sites collapse and have complained that Google is not able to evaluate the "quality". Without a doubt, it is a difficult concept to define unequivocally. But before issuing sentences we are waiting for the first numbers on the Italian sites. If the Panda rewards originality, reliability and consistency, then we will know that the numbers will not disappoint us.
Source: LeFigaro, Search metrics
