Yes, we have liftoff! Panda 4.2 has finally arrived, following Gary Illyes announcement last month that the refresh was coming.
“This past weekend we began a Panda update that will rollout over the coming months,” said a Google spokesperson about Panda. “As you know, we’re always working to improve Google so search results are higher quality and more relevant for everyone and this is just one way we do that.”
They also confirmed the percent of queries that are impacted by Panda this time around.
2-3% of queries affected
Google has confirmed that this refresh affects only 2-3% of search queries, which is lower than the previous refresh of 3-5% in September 2014 and the last true update in May 2014 which affected 7.5% of search queries.
Don’t forget that affected search queries doesn’t mean those queries all saw the loss of pages in those search results from this new refresh. It also includes pages that have made a return to those search results as well.
Technically a refresh and not an update
For those who like to dig into all the nuances of Panda, this update is technically a refresh and not an update. This means it is reapplying the identical signals from the previous Panda for this update as well.
Too late for new changes
Unfortunately, once Google begins rolling out one of these updates, it is too late to apply changes that will have any effect during the rolling out phase period. As we have seen previously, these updates have a cut-off date and any changes made after this date will be applied to the next refresh or update.
That said, it is always a good idea to be continually updating content. But if you have been previously impacted by Panda and did not make the changes to increase quality yet, you will need to wait for the next one.
Likewise, if you are now negatively impacted by the Panda algo this time around, you will need to wait for the next update or refresh.
“Coming months”
What exactly does “coming months” mean? Does it mean two months? Six months? Or is it in limbo right now depending on how fast (or not) they decide to roll it out on any given day or week?
That said, long roll outs are nothing new to Google, and we have seen it in the past. No one should really be surprised that they aren’t hitting the entire refresh out at once, even though there are some pretty vocal about the long length of the rollout.
Hopefully, this is something we will get further clarification on, or at least an announcement of some variety when it has finished rolling out in the “coming months.”
Who will this affect?
While this update seems to be rolling out much slower than we usually see, with the last refresh Pierre Far from Google said that many high quality small and medium sites were ranking higher.
But the slower update will also make it harder to assess the usual “winners and losers” like we can normally do
Read more at http://www.thesempost.com/google-panda-update-everything-we-know-about-panda-4-2/
Reference https://moz.com/google-algorithm-change
