Pandas are typically solitary animals, but Google’s Panda updates are making an exception to that rule. Back 
in February, we reported on Google’s first Panda algorithm update (2.0), but since then there’s been a 2.1, and according to a recent Search Engine Land Blog, Google’s Matt Cutts has confirmed a coming 2.2 update. This sloth of pandas is unlikely to split up and disappear into some far-away bamboo forest anytime soon. In fact, this CNET article on the recent Panda 2.2 update quotes Google with saying: “We’ll continue to iterate on returning high-quality sites to Google users as part of the roughly 500 changes we make to our ranking algorithms each year. We have nothing more specific to announce at this time.”
Some Yahoo! Store merchants presume that Google algorithm updates don’t pertain to them. Yahoo! Store merchants aren’t known for publishing great literary works or hot news. They are mainly just posting product copy and general boutique store information, so why would the Google Panda updates affect Yahoo! Store merchants? The best way to answer that question is by listing a few red flag practices which Yahoo! Store owners need to be wary. If Yahoo! Store merchants answer any of the following questions with a “yes,” then it’s time to make some corrections to avoid being punished by Google’s Panda stampede.
- Is manufacturer-provided product copy being used?
- Is product copy or other page copy rarely updated?
- Is product copy fairly generic?
- Is duplicate ad / product copy (the same you use on your own site) being used in online advertisements or off-site link farms?
- Has social media been neglected?
If you noticed a pattern in the above questions, you would be right in assuming that Google’s updates are geared not so much toward reducing spam, but toward increasing the Page Rank of high quality sites. For too long have low quality content sites out-ranked the more useful, high quality sites. With that said Google has identified the common denominators among the poor content sites and is working to filter them out. So, if you’re using old, bland, duplicate, or overly pithy product copy, Google’s Panda is probably gnawing your PageRank down to the roots.It’s also important to embrace social media to get fresh, relevant backlinks out there without having to rely on the now outdated link farms to do it for you.
If Yahoo! Store merchants could just regularly serve up original, relevant, helpful, and fresh product copy and other website content, with the overall purpose of being as helpful to shoppers as possible, then it’s likely no amount of future Panda updates will make any difference to the merchant.
