What Panda targeted
- Thin pages with little useful information
- Duplicate and near-duplicate content, and content copied from other sites
- Mass-produced articles written for keywords rather than readers
- Pages with more ads than content
- Errors, weak facts and poor presentation that make content unreliable
How Panda works today
Panda ran as periodic updates until 2015, and in 2016 Google confirmed it had become part of its core ranking algorithm. It is no longer announced separately. Its idea, rewarding helpful, original content and demoting unhelpful content, lives on in Google’s core ranking systems and core updates.
How to avoid quality problems
- Publish fewer, better pages rather than many thin ones.
- Merge or remove overlapping and outdated pages, or keep them out of the index.
- Make sure every page offers something original: experience, data, examples or clear explanations.
- Don’t let ads get in the way of the content.