Google Panda: Understanding the Technical Inner Workings

The concept of a search engine is very simple. Database the location of pages and return the most relevant results.

Primitive search engines only understood words on the pages in their database and returned pages that included those searched words. Google essentially came along with the ability to reorder those search results based on how many other pages on the Internet linked to them.

Since then Google and other search engines have improved these foundational ranking factors and developed thousands of ways to reorder search results so only the most relevant are displayed to the user. For example the "freshness" of content or the location of where the search took place.

Panda is just another way Google reorders results based on the quality of a site's content.

Throughout this article we speculate in detail what can be learned from the "Panda Patent". The verbiage used is often vague and sometimes makes it hard to retain meaning, so here's a quick concept breakdown that should help throughout.

1. Panda refreshes gathered information about links and queries associated with a site.
2. Upon a user search, each result listing (URL / Page) is given an initial score based on relevance to search and page quality.
3. Calculations of #1 and #2 determine if the result listing (URL / Page) is above or below a threshold.
4. Results are reordered by final values.

Looking Back and the New "Panda Rank"

Way back in February 2011, Google released a major change in how they order search results. In it they explain:

This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful.

They go on to say:

...it is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that's exactly what this change does.

Panda looked at the quality of content as it related to a site.

In summary, Google assigned each page eligible for search results a value that reordered search results for any particular query based on the quality of the group (for example, a site) the page was associated with. That's a jam-packed summary and seems complex to programmatically automate.

Danny Sullivan, founder of Search Engine Land, speaks to this in an article published four months after the introduction Panda, "Right now, it's too much computing power to be running this particular analysis of pages. Instead, Google runs the filter periodically to calculate the values it needs."

We've come to know what is described here as a refresh, marking the occasion of sites getting hit or released from the Panda threshold.

Note: (according to Google this has recently been integrated into their normal process, hence no more "refreshes").

Fast forward 3 years and more than 25 Panda updates when Bill Slawski discovered a patent that was granted with the name Navneet Panda, the Google Engineer who authored the Panda update. Bill notes that Panda, "...is aimed at improving search results rather than penalizing sites or identifying attempts to manipulate search results." This is a key differentiator when comparing Panda to other Google updates.

To help provide some context to the patent analysis below, we're going to call the new group based quality score Google created Panda Rank. In ode to how Google originally determined relevant pages for queries, PageRank.

'Panda Rank' Patent

As much as we can gather from the complexity of a patent, Panda in a most basic summary seems to have been a two-part process. For each URL eligible for a particular search query:

• An initial score is generated – URL level, relevance to query, and/or quality score.
• If applicable, group based modification factors were applied.

Initial Scoring

The first step in generating the Panda Rank was generating an initial score for every URL listingwithin the context of a particular query. The patent goes into more detail, "...a measure of the relevance of the resource (URL listing) to the search query, a measure of the quality of the resource (URL listing), or both."

STEP ONE: Given the search term, assign an initial value for all eligible URLs based on:

• Relevance to query.
• Quality measurement.

Initial Scoring Speculation and Summary

Initial scores were generated from factors that were not new. Panda is special because it was a feasible way to automate reordering search results based on group VS URL quality.

Group Based Modification Factor

Once an initial score has been generated for every URL for a given search query, that score is then modified based on the quality of the group the URL has been assigned.

A site is one type of group, Google refers to address-based groups several times throughout the patent but provides possibilities of what a group could be:

...a portion of the resources on the Internet. A group can be defined in any of a variety of ways. An address-based group of resources is a group of resources that is defined by the Internet addresses, e.g., Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), of the resources in the group. Resources are grouped so that a resource cannot be included in more than one group of resources. For example, a group of resources can include each resource that can be accessed using a particular domain name. That is, the group could include http://www.domain.com/resource1, http://wwww.domain.com/resource2, http://www.domain.com/resourceN, and so on, without regard to when the resources first become available to the search engine 130 for indexing. Alternatively, a group of resources can include each resource that can be accessed using a particular host name, e.g., http://host.example.com/resource1, http://host.example.com/resource2, http://host.example.com/resourceN, and so on. Other address-based groupings are possible. For example, a particular group can include only a portion of the resources that can be accessed using a particular host name or a particular domain name.

Patent speak likes to project that anything is possible, which makes sense for litigation purposes.

STEP TWO: Once an initial score is assigned for eligible URLs given a search term, modify the scores according to the quality of the groups to which they are associated. For all URLs in a group, quality score is based on identifying a count of:

• Reference queries.
• Independent links.

Reference Query Group Count

A reference query is when a searcher uses a search query to find a specific URL.

Note: More detail is provided about reference queries in the Panda Flow and Speculation Summary below.

Independent Link Group Count

Independent links are especially "vetted" links pointing to a URL.

Group Based Modification Speculation and Summary

Panda took initial URL level relevance and quality scores and modified them according to a group based factor looking at reference queries and independent links.

The Panda Flow

The patent image below describes the flow of Panda.

• Generate initial scores for all eligible URL listings for a given search query.
• Determine if query is navigational, if so leave initial score alone.
• If the initial score of the URL is below the group quality score threshold, modify initial score.
• Repeat.

Note: In the actual patent, they seem to refer to a URL as a "resource".

The Panda Flow Speculation and Summary

One confusing aspect of the Panda flow is what the difference between navigational and reference queries might be. We think that navigational queries may have something indicating the brand name within the query itself.

Something like searching [nike shoes on zappos] might be considered a navigational query. Reference queries might be based on timing. If someone uses a search and clicks a link within a certain time frame it could be flagged as a "reference query.

Another interesting aspect to this flow to consider is the possibility of multiple thresholds. It makes sense that Google wants a quality factor based on site or group of URLs and found that with Panda, but having multiple thresholds could have different outcomes. A URL listing for a given search query could be:

• Negatively impacted by multiple group score factor.
• Negatively impacted by one group score factor and positively impacted by others.
• Positively impacted by multiple group score factors.

The patent does state, "Resources are grouped so that a resource cannot be included in more than one group of resources."

Despite this being outright stated, one thought is that a URL could have modification factors applied based on both address and non-address based groups.

Google could set the address based modification factor to have more of an impact on a URL thannon-address based groups. Effectively demoting URL / pages that have internal duplication issues to a higher degree versus URLs / pages with external duplication issues.

Along the same line of thought, if a page has both internal and external group quality issues, it could be negatively impacted twice.

Panda Today and Ranking Factors to Consider

Without thinking about the details, one thing we can agree on is that site and group based quality scores are a ranking factor in Google search results today. No doubt things have changed since this patent was written, but it does seem to provide some valuable insight in how to think about and how to avoid and overcome Google's Panda.

As it is described in the patent, URLs are given a unique score that is modified according to any query searched. Furthermore, that modification factor is dynamic depending on ever changing variables. That translates to Panda having a different impact on every URL. That makes for hard quantification, but there are factors that have been discussed in detail above to consider further incorporating into best practices:

Panda URL Level Ranking Factors

• Relevance to query.
• Quality.

Panda Group Level Ranking Factors

• Count of reference queries.
• Count of independent links.

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How Google Ranks Pages That Don't Get Many Links

Perhaps you've just launched a site that's loaded with fabulous content, but you don't have a lot of links to your site or individual articles yet. Or perhaps your site has a decent amount of links, but a brand new piece of content you believe is of great quality hasn't gotten any links yet.

But how does Google determine that content is quality, when there aren't many links pointing to it? Or how is it determined that the content is spammy or thin, when there are a lot of links pointing to it? That's the topic of the latest webmaster help video from Google's Matt Cutts.

"In general that sort of reverts back to the way search engines were before links," Cutts said. "You're pretty much judging based on the text on the page at that point. So Google has a lot of stuff to sort of say the first time we see the word on the page count a little more, the next time a little more, but not a ton more, and then after a while we say we've seen this word, maybe this page is about this topic."

Cutts does caution about something many SEO novices do: overusing their chosen or best keyword so many times that it crosses the line into being keyword stuffing. Because keyword stuffing is one of the oldest SEO tricks in the book, and something that hasn't worked well for at least 10 years, Google is pretty good about figuring out where that line is between normal keyword usage and keyword stuffing.

"It doesn't really help you to keep repeating that keyword over and over and over again," Cutts said. "And at some point we might view that as keyword stuffing and then the page would actually do less well, not as well as just a moderate number of mentions of a particular piece of text."

Cutts said Google has different ways to try to determine the quality, context, and ranking of the page, even without the links. For example, Google might look at whether the content sits on a "somewhat reputable" domain.

"But typically if you go back to a user is typing possibly some really rare phrase, if there's no other pages on the web that have that particular phrase, even if there's not that many links, then that page can be returned because we think it might be relevant or might be topical to what the user is looking for," Cutts said.

So Google can rank content based on other clues such as the quality of previous content on the domain, as well as the particular search phrase someone is looking for, especially if it's something unique or not found on many pages.

Of course, getting links to any content is always a good thing, and will help assert its authority to Google when they are ranking, particularly for search phrases that are more common and more competitive.

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Ten Timely Tips for Terrific Title Tags

Google's most recent results page layout changes meant more than just a search experience update. With the change came adjustments to how each individual result is displayed, which may almost certainly necessitate a refresh for a core search engine optimization (SEO) element: the venerable title tag.

So first off, for both the old and new hat SEO folks, what is the title tag and why is it important?

As Google explains:

A title tag tells both users and search engines what the topic of a particular page is. ... If your document appears in a search results page, the contents of the title tag will usually appear in the first line of the results ... This can help users recognize if the page is likely to be relevant to their search.

As Kristine Schachinger wrote on SEW:

Title tags are part of the meta tags that appear at the top of your HTML inside the < head> area. Think of title tags like the title of the chapter of a book. It tells people and search engines what your page is about. ... A title tag is THE MOST IMPORTANT SINGLE TAG in your page. It tells the search engines what your page is about. It is still vitally important to your SEO strategy.

Much may have changed in Google over the years, but the importance of the title tag can't be overstressed. It's used (most of the time) as the clickable text in a search result, it is the headline to your ad, the start of a (search) conversion funnel, and a facet of internal linking.

Your website's title tag says who you are, what you do, why anyone should bother to click, and why Google should care. It is your opening line when you first meet someone, or a welcoming greeting on your return. It is important. (Did I make that clear?)

Google's Distinguished Engineer Matt Cutts likes titles, too:

Tip 1: The Long

Much has been debated over the maximum length of a title tag. Review the mean recommendations of 10 different online resources and theaverage is around the 65-70 character mark.

However, this study proved that character count is a somewhat spurious measure, and that the sum of character's width should be the primary driver of optimal title SERP display.

Fast forward to Google's most recent redesign and you'll see less is apparently more, with the title displayed appearing to be 10-15 percent shorter.

Though some (or many) folk will disagree, I'm not as concerned with the maximum display limiter of the new display of the title tag enough to spout change for change's sake, so with the caveats I mention below (See Tip 3) don't worry too much about adapting title tag length to this latest update.

(Tip 1.5: Cutts also mentions in the video embedded above that Google may use all of a title tag to understand a page, so it's best to make sure you cover the main topic(s) in the title tag, even if it is a little long for SERP display.)

Tip 2: The Short

So if there's a maximum length, is there a minimum number of characters or character width? Although there's always discussion on title maximum, the minimum length of the title tag is a challenge of a couple of factors:

• Why waste the valuable real estate with a short title tag and opportunity to inspire a click?
• Google may decide to 'fill in the blanks' and add additional characters to the title tag from on-page content = you lose some control over what shows.

So from these two factors I'd recommend you follow the maximum characters / width for the minimum, ensuring you're meeting those criteria will make the shortness of titles a moot point!

FYI: This is probably too short of a title tag:

Tip 3: The Start

There's nothing worse than missing an opportunity. The key in the search results is to start out strong, lead with your best foot, and connect with the search query to inspire the click.

This doesn't mean you must start with your primary keyword for the specific page (or your homepage) titles, but consider doing some informal testing with a few friends or colleagues to see what mix inspires the click more than others.

A review of the SERP can also help from a standpoint of not following the herd (see "stand out" below), and differentiating the first 25 or so characters to really stand out from the crowd.

If everyone around you is calling out their brand first, then maybe you should be more conversational, such as:

More than 5,000 air filters in stock! Check out Fred's Auto online.

Remember... title tags are an art and a science. Write accordingly. Be creative!

Tip 4: The Big Bold Bit

It's not just bravado. Nothing draws the eye more than contrast.

Until Google adds additional color to the search results (I think it'll be with us in the next 12 months, probably starting as a 'color extension' for paid ads), it's a bold result that pulls us in as:

• Psychologically, we see it as more important.
• Subconsciously, our eyes are directed to differences. 
• Emotionally, we feel more confident in decisions that appear with signals of strength (our search queries are – roughly – matched in the bolding of results).

Anticipating user's search queries and ensuring they're included in your title tags (and meta description snippets), will potentially give you one or a few bolded words in your search display, driving greater visibility, differentiation, and hopefully driving a higher click-through rate as results appear to better match the user's intent.

Tip 5: The Switch Hitter

Do a search for [homes for sale] and you'll see results with title tags that don't include an exact query match. Why?

Google guesses, sometimes well, what you may be looking for based on a massive data set of prior queries, user interactions and semantically related themes that encapsulate certain queries.

The Hummingbird update helps Google interpret both the search query and the match with your on-page content.

Understanding the meaning of a search query opens up the possibility of many more search queries matching your page and opens up many more possibilities in the SERP for bolding and highlighting of results. (When you searched for "homes for sale", did you get "houses for sale" and "real estate" match via bold in the SERP?).

Leveraging thematic rather than exact match keyword rich title tags can help capture more than just the query you thought.

Tip 6: The Big Click

A title tag, when used as the clickable part of a search result, should not only be clickable, it should inspire clicks through some kind of call to action.

I noted bolding as a facet of Google's attempt to connect user queries with clicks, but there's way more to clickability that just formatting. I'm one of the many who calls headline writing a true art, because the element of inspiring clicks is about providing clear, concise and connective reasons for user clicks.

Most simple is a 'click here', but it's hardly inspirational, and in a world of SERPs where differentiation is key, building a subtle call to action into your result can be key to gaining more clicks.

I'll add a big caveat here. I tend to push most obvious calls to action into the meta description tag where there's more opportunity (and more characters / visible space) to build a story, however short that story may be. But there's still some instances where the addition of an active verb, distinct command or user mandate, can fit snugly into a title tag.

Searches such as [Find a Tennis Partner] can give some idea of what to expect, and connect with a new to town chap like myself for a few sets.

Tip 7: The Stand Out

You may not be top of page, but that doesn't mean you can't be top of mind! Don't underestimate the ability of a title tag to help you stand out from the crowd.

As both major engines have alluded to, SERP click-through rates provide a valuable (initial) signal of relevance and user engagement, which in the short term gives you traffic, and in the long term may affect your rankings.

Standing out can be more than just adding CAPITALS to your title tag. Review the SERP for key queries to analyze the competition and try to differentiate within the confines of the tips noted in this article.

Trying to be different, attractive, and ultimately more clickable than the competition is the key when higher ranking might be difficult. (Or from a well positioned competitor closer to impossible.)

Here's an amalgamation of results, one of which (in my opinion stands out a little more than the other). Which one would you click on?

Tip 8: The Databank

There's many ways to stand out, just as there's many ways to organize both the format and structure of your title tags.

One way to add differentiation and a little bit more 'clickable-ness' to your search result is through the inclusion of dynamic data. This is the tricky tip that takes a little development and planning, but the results can dramatically improve click-through rates.

Adding numbers of found results, items sold, or people involved can add both an element that attracts, and serve as a reminder to search bots of page changes that can inspire recrawls and faster indexing.

Although dynamic titles are often worth the bother of programming time, it does depend on your business and potential customer needs, if intent can be influenced through demonstration of scope and scale, then dynamic titles pulled from search or site data might be ideal method to stand out and inspire clicks.

Tip 9: The Brand

I've seen a fair amount of dissension in the SEO industry around "to brand or not to brand" your title tags. That highlights the fact that's there is no definitive answer, and no proof of the inclusion of brand keywords in the title tag having any additional lift from an SEO standpoint.

You should rank for your brand. Period. And if you don't, there's probably a lot more challenges ahead, including the possibility of a penalty, site availability, and any other number of SEO "deal-breakers".

I generally recommend the brand being visible for the home page, with consideration for numbers 3 & 4 above, either in the first position, or right after the key differentiator keywords.

Remember that on brand searches – [navigational] where Google thinks the user is looking for your brand and nothing else – the search results is likely to reflect a truncated version of your homepage title tag anyway. Review the SERP and adapt accordingly.

Tip 10: The Reality

Google can show whatever they like, and will. Do a brand search and you'll see a massively truncated result. This is based on user intent on navigational queries when Google thinks they know what you're looking for.

Following the best practices outlined above is designed to (hopefully) notgive Google any reason to swap out your results, though we've certainly seen tests (and Matt Cutts confirmed above) that Google can – and will – show anything they believe is more relevant to the searcher, even if you believe your title tag is great, Google can always think otherwise.

Test.

Bonus Tip: The Power Tag

In the 10 tips above I touch on the best or better practices for title tag formatting, SERP display, and click through, but the lowly title tag goes far beyond just these.

Anchor rich internal linking has long been an 'old hat' SEO fallback, leveraging anchor text as keyword reinforcement to search engines (and occasionally users) of what they should find at the other end of a link. Butonsite the title tag is a powerful tool that's almost certainly used by search engines to assess page topics and the logical connections between them.

In a naturally, user-centric built website (one that offers the best experience for users), links between topically relevant pages should be related via like, similar, parent, child and/or logical themes and hierarchy, offering title tags (as an indicator of page topic) as a perfect vehicle to underscore and reinforce page, topic and hierarchy relevance and association.

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Backlinks = Rankings, Rankings = Traffic – Deal With It

Link building, done correctly, is hard work. It's laborious and filled with lots of rejection. In many ways, it's like telemarketing – nobody likes it, but it pays off. In fact, link building still works better than anything else to boost organic rankings.

Google's Matt Cutts recently confirmed the continuing value of links here and here. The key quotes:

...backlinks…are a really, really big win in terms of quality for search results ... backlink relevance still really, really helps in making sure we return the best, most relevant, most topical set of search results.

...backlinks still have many, many years left in them ... over time backlinks will become a little less important ... we will continue to use links in order to assess the basic reputation of pages and websites.

So what are the takeaways from these videos? Most commenters picked up on natural language processing and authorship, as probable ranking factors moving forward, without acknowledging the core message of the videos – links still matter a lot. And they will continue to matter for many years.

I don't blame anyone for chalking these videos up to Google FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), but the evidence doesn't stop there. I'm sure that you're familiar with the Penguin algorithm. How about manual penalties, for unnatural links? If links didn't matter, would there be an entire industry dedicated to link audits and sanitizing backlink profiles? Would Google spend so much time and resources battling spammy links? Of course not.

Still, there is a whole contingency of "link deniers" proclaiming that "link building is dead." These folks are just as fervent in their beliefs as the "truthers" and "birthers" despite factual evidence that runs to the contrary. (There's a pretty good chance you will read their comments, below.)

So why are so many people running away from the single most important task in building organic rankings? The answer is pretty simple. Not only is link building hard, but if done improperly, it can result in a penalty and in the most extreme cases can even get you sued!

Can you blame SEO professionals for running away from that hot mess? Of course you can – and you should.

Every marketing campaign focused on building organic rankings needs a link building component. Thousands, if not millions, of pages of great content are published on the web daily – most will never be seen by human eyes. Great content alone, in a competitive niche, rarely ranks without links.

There's a big difference between link building (baiting, earning) and link spamming. The kinds of links that matter are the ones that are editorially given. Links with innate value, not necessarily SEO value. These links require human intervention for placement. A link that can be dropped automatically by anyone has little value and often leads to abuse and trouble.

So, what are some effective techniques for building links in 2014? Actually, the same strategies advised by Cutts way back on March 4, 2010 still hold up today:

• Create controversy: Use it sparingly like spice. The occasional rant is best and if over-used, loses its effectiveness.
• Use humor: Offered as a "softer" alternative to controversy. Can be equally effective – especially if original. (The Oatmeal has built a franchise on funny)
• Participate in blog and forum communities: Not as a spammer, but as an interested community member who gives back to the community by answering questions that help people. This builds credibility and opens up opportunities to attract links.
• Publish original research: Doing a little work to dig into a subject can get a lot of links.
• Use social media: Think about where your target audience spends their time. Is it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram? You need to be there as well. Like blog and forum communities, getting to know people via social media opens up link opportunities.
• Create a "Top X List": Like controversy, this is best used sparingly or it can get old fast
• Blog frequently and establish yourself as an authority in your field: If authorship had been in place when this video was produced, I'm sure that would have been mentioned, as well.
• Create how-tos and tutorials: They may not attract a ton of links, but a few good links can have a huge impact – especially on the long tail. These are also a natural for video.
• Create a useful product and give it away for free: Firefox extensions, Chrome extensions, WordPress plugins, anything open source.

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