Google’s Panda 4.2 Update
Panda 4.2 was first implemented on July 18, and the rollout is expected to take effect over a few months. Rollout times have grown in the past few updates, and the time between them has grown longer as well.
Sites hit by Panda 4.1 have had 10 months to wallow in their punishment, and for those that fixed their site, 4.2’s slow rollout can’t come quick enough. For the sites punished by 4.2, it may be some time before the next update comes along. Unfortunately, after the update is released, it’s too late to make changes; your search rankings will take a hit no matter what you do.
Still, it would be silly to use that as an excuse not to keep improving your site and your content. You never know when the next update will be, and focusing on quality always helps tremendously.
The slow rollout also means that measuring changes to ranking and search traffic will be more difficult than in earlier updates, as it’s hard to know when and if the algorithm will affect your site. This also means that what exactly the update is rewarding and punishing is somewhat of a mystery, though it’s safe to assume that these will be in line with Panda has always meant to promote: quality content.
- The rollout will be slower than usual
- 2–3 percent of search queries will be affected
- Creating quality content remains the best way to respond