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Google Confirms Panda 3.3 Update
- Thread starter joe.pistell
- Start date
At DealerOn, we've run some analyses across our website platform on Google Organic search traffic comparing yesterday’s traffic patterns to:
1) Prior Wednesday's Google Organic Search Traffic patterns
2) Prior Google Organic Search Traffic (dealership branded terms vs. non-branded terms)
3) Prior Google Organic Search Traffic by City
4) Historical Google Organic Search Traffic vs. Total Organic Search Traffic (if something has changed in only Google's traffic patterns then the trends vs. other Organic Search Engine traffic should show this).
In the one-day sample, whatever impact our sites are experiencing does not appear to be statistically significant, either positively or negatively.
Some of the relevant quotes in Google's post: "This improvement improves the triggering of Local Universal results by relying more on the ranking of our main search results as a signal." -- This seems to suggest that Google is using more of the main (non-Local) results algorithm factors (probably on-site factors) to order the Local results , like distance from city's centroid, and perhaps less on factors that are not used in the main, traditional results.
The other intriguing quote is "We often use characteristics of links to help us figure out the topic of a linked page. We have changed the way in which we evaluate links; in particular, we are turning off a method of link analysis that we used for several years." The main component of any link's characteristics that would provide information about the page to which it is linked is the anchor text of the link. Its possible that Google is removing some influence ("a method of link analysis") previously given to an inbound link from the anchor text it contains. We're continuing to analyze our entire platform's analytics data to see if we can isolate any particular type of keyword (non-branded) or consumer segment (local vs. non-local) that might be impacted one way or another by these changes, but as of yet we’ve seen nothing remarkable. Keep us posted on anything else you see.
1) Prior Wednesday's Google Organic Search Traffic patterns
2) Prior Google Organic Search Traffic (dealership branded terms vs. non-branded terms)
3) Prior Google Organic Search Traffic by City
4) Historical Google Organic Search Traffic vs. Total Organic Search Traffic (if something has changed in only Google's traffic patterns then the trends vs. other Organic Search Engine traffic should show this).
In the one-day sample, whatever impact our sites are experiencing does not appear to be statistically significant, either positively or negatively.
Some of the relevant quotes in Google's post: "This improvement improves the triggering of Local Universal results by relying more on the ranking of our main search results as a signal." -- This seems to suggest that Google is using more of the main (non-Local) results algorithm factors (probably on-site factors) to order the Local results , like distance from city's centroid, and perhaps less on factors that are not used in the main, traditional results.
The other intriguing quote is "We often use characteristics of links to help us figure out the topic of a linked page. We have changed the way in which we evaluate links; in particular, we are turning off a method of link analysis that we used for several years." The main component of any link's characteristics that would provide information about the page to which it is linked is the anchor text of the link. Its possible that Google is removing some influence ("a method of link analysis") previously given to an inbound link from the anchor text it contains. We're continuing to analyze our entire platform's analytics data to see if we can isolate any particular type of keyword (non-branded) or consumer segment (local vs. non-local) that might be impacted one way or another by these changes, but as of yet we’ve seen nothing remarkable. Keep us posted on anything else you see.
Thanks for the info. I was not even aware Panda. I took a look at the infographic today, and it was very informative.
✨ AI Highlights
A dealer reports that Google's Panda 3.3 update caused his site to drop off page one for key search terms, with classified sites like Cars.com and CarGurus taking over dealer positions. After investigation, he discovers the ranking loss was caused by technical problems from a recent server migration by his hosting provider HomeNet, not the algorithm update itself—once fixed, his rankings recovered. The thread underscores the importance of distinguishing between actual algorithm changes and site technical issues when diagnosing search ranking drops.
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