Google Penalty World

Nathan Safran writes at Search Engine Watch:

"There have been numerous instances in the past where users have been up in arms about the latest Google change, insisting they were moving on to other search engines.

Panda, while painful for many publishers ultimately proved itself to improve search results relevancy.

Google Instant and Preview brought with them cries of "SEO is Dead!" and vows to move on to greener pastures. All the while the needle hasn't budged on Google's market share.

But what makes this time different is this is the first time the credibility of their core search results are being called into question.

Without question, social is an important part of how online users will consume and spread quality content.

But it has to be integrated in a manner that doesn't degrade core search functionality, or worse, sully searcher trust in what is still the most utilized search engine in the world.

Because this, more than anything Google's core competitors can do to them, could prove itself to be the tossed pebble that brings the mighty giant to its knees."

Interesting, informative. 8/10

Read the full article: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2141766/How-Google-Could-Threaten-Googles-Core-Search-Business 

(Curated by Robin Good)

Robin Good: Stefan, from Pandacode just wrote to me saying:

"I guess everyone agrees that with the Penguin update Google's results are now worse than ever.

Yet, many people still don't trust Bing - simply because for years their search results have been even worse and extremely spammy in most cases.

So how about doing a split test in which you don't know which search result are from which engine and get to choose which results you like better?

Try it here:
http://www.bingiton.com

Yes, it is part of a public relations campaign from Microsoft but I really liked the way the test is set up.

You can try it for 5 search queries and then see the result.

Have fun trying."

Free

Try it out now: http://www.bingiton.com/Landingpage.aspx?form=&publ=&crea=

Excerpted from the article: "Over the course of the last year, we’ve heard loud cries of protest after each of the updates from smaller site owners who felt they’d been unfairly penalized by Panda.

In retrospect though, as we’re heading into a new year, it does seem that Panda is accomplishing what it was meant to do.

Towards the end of 2011, on Webmaster Radio’s Webcology show, host Jim Hedger asked each of the Year in Review panelists what they felt the biggest search story of the year had been. Surprisingly, perhaps, Panda wasn’t really on the radar of some of the more recognized names in search as one of the bigger concerns of 2011.

In the Webcology chatroom, it was generally agreed among industry vets including Jill Whalen that sites hit by Panda, whether they realized it or not, time and again were found to have areas in need of improvement that very well could have contributed to their being snagged in the updates: duplicate content, thin or shallow content, overwhelming ad placement."

Read the full article: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2135047/Search-Engines-Are-Winning-the-War-on-Content-Farms-STUDY