Google Panda Update Hits Ehow – Ehow Loses Rankings

Google recently launched an update to their Panda algorithm change, and this update has finally hit Ehow hard. Google reported that this most recent update affects about 2% of US search queries, and specifically this Panda update incorporates information from the Google Chrome browser block feature.

Users of the Google Chrome browser have the ability to block sites from their search results — if you run a search on Google and think one of the results is garbage, you can tell Google Chrome never to show any results from that site again.

And apparently a lot of people thought Ehow results were garbage, if that indicator really is the primary change in this Panda update.

Sitrix recently released new data on the impact of the Google Panda algorithm update, showing that the Google visibility of the Ehow content farm dropped a whopping 66% as a result of the Panda update.

Sitrix also provided a list of the top sites whose Google search engine visibility declined as a result of the Panda update:

Ehow and Content Farms

Originally the Google Panda update was intended to target low-quality sites that were ranking well in Google search results, and content farms in particular. Content farms are sites that pump out tons of low quality content and then stuff it full of ads.

When the Panda algorithm first debuted, many SEO professionals were annoyed to see that the most well known content farm, Ehow, not only escaped unscathed, but actually increased in many rankings. This is a site that places ads above, to the sides, below, and within their articles — and the articles include such gems as “How to Wear a Cardigan Sweater” (stuffed with ads for where to buy sweaters, of course).

Personally, it drives me crazy when I see an Ehow article show up in my search results, because it’s guaranteed to be a shallow 250 word article completely devoid of meaningful information — I know at once that it will not be meaningful or helpful to me. I’m happy to see that so many Google Chrome users feel the same way, and that these results are being used to improve Google’s search quality.

After Sitrix released their data — which is normally very accurate — Ehow responded with a public statement saying that while their search engine traffic did decrease as a result of the Google Panda algorithm update, it wasn’t nearly as severe as Sitrix reported, and that they were increasingly generating traffic from sources other than search engines, and that they had many other profitable sites beside Ehow.

Other Panda-Related Posts:

• Report Stolen Content to Google
• Google Panda Update History: Dates Run
• Google Panda SEO
• Google Launching New Panda Update Soon
• Google on How to Rank Well in the Wake of Panda
• Google Panda Update Hits Ehow - Ehow Loses Rankings
• Google Panda Update to Include User Site Blocks in Rankings
• Google Panda Change & SEO Impact on Ecommerce Sites
• Google Discusses "Big Panda" Algorithm Change

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