Panda update coming Friday or Monday

1. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 11 years ago

   Google announced an upcoming Panda release for this Friday or Monday.  We will be watching.

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      alexadryposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Oh, oh.. maybe that explains my lower earnings on March 8th? I hope the worst is over! Miss those times when there weren't penguins, pandas and pigs!

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      Randy Godwinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Cool beans!  Anything would be an improvement on my account. 

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         habeeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         

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         Barbara Kayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Who knows Randy. Maybe this one will bring you out on top. I hope so. After this long, you deserve it.

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      dwachiraposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Again? Fine, keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks Paul for alerting us.

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      paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      For reasons apparently known only to my subconscious, I feel oddly optimistic about this one. I was right about Squidoo..., so we shall see. And as for link-networks, I put the odds at better than 50:50 that eHow is doomed. And as for Yahoo Voices' consistently obsolete posts always showing up at the top of search results, that's another blatantly obvious one, re: the freshness issue, that I think has a decent chance of finally being fixed. We just might have ourselves a level playing field next week!

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         SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         The problem might be that the level playing field happens to be sitting on top of Mount Everest!!!

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         Tealparadiseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Yes!  What is up with Ask Yahoo being top result all the time?  It makes no sense, especially when often the "answer" is not even an answer to the question.  So the top response is literally useless. 
         
         And ehow... ugh.  Don't get me started.  Them and about.com seem to just throw a paragraph onto a page, then 10 links which each have a paragraph.  Then each new page has 10 more links.  You keep clicking because they make it look like the actual article is just around the corner, but you never get there and end up giving them like 20 views with no answer to your question.

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            molometerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I totally agree. That is all I have been seeing for months now.
            I clicked on about 10 pages just today on Mashable and a few other 'notable' sites and it was just as you describe. A couple of paragraphs and another 10 links. I even considered doing a few pages like it myself, just to see how they performed and what would happen. I still might.
            What a load of tripe and yet they are out performing everything else in the serps.
            How come they haven't been hit by these Panda updates.
            Most of the content (if it can be called that) was ancient too.?
            
            Don't quit the day job.

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               Tealparadiseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Mashable used to have decent content too.   I was on the site recently and the layout has been changed to something terrible.  Like pinterest of articles and ads.  Makes the site too loud.

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            Dolores Monetposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            This has been driving me crazy for some time. Many of the answers are so wrong. Looking up how to clean wood kitchen cabinets - some of the suggestions would have totally ruined them. And the lists of links and say nothing paragraphs so get on my nerves! When I hear there is going to be a new Panda, I think "oh no" there goes the traffic that has finally returned. But then I think maybe it will get rid of the rubbish! (I just hope they don't think that I am the rubbish, haha)

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            2besureposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I use to write for ehow, when I first started writing online.  When I look back at some of the crap I wrote, I am embarrassed!  Hubpages, has a much, much higher standard for the writers, than eHow ever did.   Towards the end, they constantly deleted writer's work without warning.   They were terrible.  They never responded to the writer's questions, and later closed down the forum, so we couldn't communicate with each other.  Eventually, they stopped paying the writers and closed the writer's compensation program.  They paid some of us for our articles, and the rest went away mad!  How they are successful with how they treated us, is amazing to me.

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      Cantuhearmescreamposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      What is a Panda release? How would it be good for HubPages?

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         Page1 SEO tacticsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Panda along with Penguin are names of Google's algorithms which determine your SERP and page rank.  A Google Panda release the would be an update to the algorithms to which is supposed to help prevent webspam, though sometimes just makes the webspam more prominent.

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   habeeposted 11 years ago

   Oh, great. Something to look forward to. Thanks for the heads up, though. If my traffic tanks again, at least I'll know why.

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   Greekgeekposted 11 years ago

   About blinking time. No Google updates (announced) of any kind for all of February make me think of the Cascadia Subduction Zone... I start waiting for the Big One!

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   viking305posted 11 years ago

   Let's hope  Google  is good  to us this time and we can get back to the good old days!

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   joym7posted 11 years ago

   just waiting for another change on my site

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   rebekahELLEposted 11 years ago

   They seem to like starting our weekends with a surprise, so nice they gave a heads up warning for either day. 
   
   Let's hope it's good to us.
   
   That Penguin update sounds rather ominous..

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      Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      No, they do it on Fridays for their own jollies. It's like kids setting fireworks - then they run behind something and hide while all hell breaks loose.

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   wabondposted 11 years ago

   Google only going to be good to us, if their updates have lost them advertising revenue.  Hopefully that is what happened.

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   leahleflerposted 11 years ago

   Thanks for the heads-up! Will be watching my traffic to see what happens (I hope it is a nice Panda this time)!

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   sgbrownposted 11 years ago

   My views tanked about a week ago and I have no idea why.  Google's update will either help me or send my over the edge.  I don't know whether to dread it or look forward to it!  Cross your fingers for me.

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    PaulGoodman67posted 11 years ago

    Normally I would be dreading this news as my HP generally tanks or stays the same when there's an aglo update.  But as my main HP account is currently languishing, I can only look forward to this one!
    
    Hold onto your seats, folks!

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    Stacie Lposted 11 years ago

    I have to say that Google is not updating other articles that I have found in my searches. I research everyday and the crap and outdated information I get on Google is astonishing. Websites that are coming in first are years old and the information is outdated. Why are we being hit so hard?

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       molometerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I have found exactly the same. Webpages that date back to 2007 are in first spot on a general search. The content is usually less than 400 words and poorly written. Check out some of the articles on sites like Mashable, they are ridiculously tiny. Have no value and convey no information worth knowing.
       Someone needs to get hold of Panda and ring his neck.

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          2besureposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          This is true, when I am looking for something current, I add, 2013 to the end of my query.

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             molometerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             This is the point. Panda is supposed to be finding 'better' pages not dross from the dark ages of the web. How many users would know, to put the current year in? very few I am guessing.

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    Rosie2010posted 11 years ago

    If Google announced the update, it must be a substantial one.  I hope it brings back traffic to our hubs.  My subdomain never recovered from the flipping Penguin attack.  Oh high and mighty Google, would you please have mercy on us poor hubbers this time.  Pretty please...

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       paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I think there is a real shot it could happen. May of us have been busily making our hubs better; Google has dropped by and observed this; and now Google will implement those observations this weekend. If life is fair (yeah, right, fat chance, no guarantees there...), the hard work should now pay off. Seriously, we have a good chance here I think.

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          PaulGoodman67posted 11 years agoin reply to this

          It's good to hear such optimism.  But who knows? 
          
          My hubs are way better than they've ever been, so it pains me that I'm currently languishing (HP - crashed, Squidoo bumped down).
          
          It's difficult for someone like me to get a handle on the bigger picture, however.  I know that Squidoo have been suffering from spun articles on an industrial scale.  Google might decide to push the "content farms" even further down the search rankings?
          
          We will know after the weekend, I guess.  I am getting a little nervous -  can you tell? 

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             paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Just to be on the safe side, I'm going to also do what Mark did. I knew I'd find a use for that outdoor cat that's been hanging around...

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                MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                If you need a human sacrifice, I can give you my ex-husband's address. He's marginally human.

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    Stacie Lposted 11 years ago

    I must be crashing soon because my traffic is climbing today!

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    Mark Ewbieposted 11 years ago

    I am prepared to make an offering to the great God Google...
    
    

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       summerberrieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       HP has already taken care of the offering to google. It is called "collateral damage" .

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          PaulGoodman67posted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I thought it was pandas you were supposed to behead?  So that's where I've been going wrong! 

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             Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Oh no. A sheep wasted.

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                wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                Can I have the wool?  If google puts me out into the cold (again) I'm going to need it.

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       LisaMarie724posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Let us hope your sacrifice is not in vain lol.

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          Dorsiposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Remember Mark, "no other "idles" before me" either,
          
          got that "pun" hehehehehehe.....

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    GoldenThreadPressposted 11 years ago

    My sources (searchenginewatch.com) say that we may be in for a bumpy ride, so hold on tight and keep writing good quality Hubs. Changes will be occurring over weeks following the Panda update. And Google's Cutts supposedly intimated that there will be a new Google Penguin Algorithm to be released in the near future. Perhaps the upside, if there is one, Google is planning on "involving merchant quality." Maybe better ads equate better profits for online writers and websites that harbor Google advertisements. Even so, the long and short of it, we all need to keep doing our best--come what may. --Deb

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       PaulGoodman67posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       The Cutts "merchant quality" reference I actually find worrying.  I am concerned Google might hit our capacity to earn via Amazon in a big way!

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          paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Good luck with the Amazon thing. I don't have to worry about that, but I do have some eBay scattered around. First hint of trouble, I'll toss them. Risk:reward just isn't there for me.

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          GoldenThreadPressposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          "The Cutts "merchant quality" reference I actually find worrying.  I am concerned Google might hit our capacity to earn via Amazon in a big way!"
          and
          "Yes, with their Adsense income declining dramatically, one suspects that their business plan is to recoup money by increasing the amount of advertising in the search engine results, with the reasoning being that they are increasing quality by setting up a paid relationship with sellers/affiliates.
          
          It would be crappy if Google page 1 just becomes a list of paid adverts when people are searching for products, though, you would hope that they would try to avoid that?"
          
          PaulGoodman67: I cannot speak about Amazon, as I haven't found much reward with them ever. Still, you never know. But as for increasing advertisers filling page 1 of Google, I am wondering what good would that serve? First of all, too much advertising turns people off. Too little, not enough revenue. I think they may be trying to find a better way to target the ads to the best audience, is my guess. That way, the power of the $$ is in the hand of the reader and is directed more appropriately. But again, that's my take. --Deb

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    jacharlessposted 11 years ago

    Oye, more bulldozers leveling homes in Content Suburbia. At this rate only a few makeshift, recycled cardboard shanties will remain standing before years end. Yet, it was inevitable. Demolish everything on the Horizontal and rebuild. Can you say: "Duplexes, everyone!"?
    
    
    
    "Content Suburbia, where every home is equal (looks the same!). New homes coming soon!  Spacious Duplexes. Amazing horizontal views!"
    
    Population:
    240,000,000 1995
    115,000,000  2011
    74,689,210  2012
       4,353,999  2013
                 825  2014 **
    
    **content is now corporate owned and strictly google driven.

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       jacharlessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       

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          janderson99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

          

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             Tealparadiseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             LOL.  I love your picture but if you're implying that the social networks are somehow beholden to Google I have to disagree.
             
             Reddit definitely runs its own ads program, and is spreading by word of mouth, no googling.
             
             I feel that social networks are the only non-google way to get hits.

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                janderson99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

                They are shown as independent, but of course they are affected by G's decisions.

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    jacharlessposted 11 years ago

    
    No Warrant means no insurance [we make no guarantee] on the value of the Call or Put. Buyer & Seller are G. So, who cares about insurance! Option Manager: DoubleClick.
    Yeah, but isn't that monopolizing --- .
    Quiet! You wanna get indexed, or bulldozed?
    What about our content rights?!
    Content. What content? You don't need no stinking content!

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    paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

    I have heard that when one is signed out, the ads on our hubs can be quite daunting... I think I'll go check that right now. I hope I don't come back here swearing...

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       paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Update:
       
       NOT THAT BAD!!! Far as I'm concerned, that worry is removed.

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          Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Maybe you saw a different version than I did - to me, the view when I'm not signed in looks pretty ad-ridden.

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             paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Yes, but they weren't obnoxious like I've seen on so many other sites. Hopefully Google is coordinated enough to notice that.

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    Tealparadiseposted 11 years ago

    Oh Snap!!!   Anyone with a Squidoo account should pop over and take a look at their "warning" page.
    
    It's basically a desperate plea asking users to voluntarily take down spun and junk content, or fix it.
    
    Right at the login screen!
    
    There's a bit of "or we'll wade through it all and do it FOR you!" at the end but you can definitely tell that the Upper Squids are flipping out over this update - there's no other reason they would put up this huge warning.  They can't possibly get the trash off the site before Panda Pound so they're actually begging users to do it, and fast.
    
    The only thing they don't do is actually mention the update.
    
    I wonder what they know that we don't???

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       Barbara Kayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I think Squidoo is going to get hit hard. They have lenses over there that have more ads than content. I'm hoping we at Hubpages fare well.

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          molometerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Just had a look at the Squidoo warning. Holy mackerel, they look like they are hunkering down for a nuclear attack. Mind you, there is a lot of crap on that site too. So maybe they deserve a Google slap.
          
          I honestly don't see the same level of poor content on hubpages, but then again I only follow good writers so maybe I have missed the dross.
          I have seen some real rubbish on hubpages which I flag, but not that often.
          Also the format of hubpages stops people over-stuffing their hubs with ads. So we may well fare better with this Panda twitch.

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             Tealparadiseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             I do the hub hopper over at mturk and I haven't seen many nonsense hubs at all.  Nothing like the drivel I associate with Squidoo.

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             relacheposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Having just participated in a conference call with Seth Godin and a few higher up Squidoo functionaries, that's not the impression I got.

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                Will Apseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                And was there some substance to this conference? Or was it just a cheer up the troops in a time of draining confidence?
                
                Personally, I hope Squidoo recovers or this site will get very crowded.

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    paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

    That really is an awesome pic. I wonder what Google, Bing, or Yahoo would pay for it...

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       LauraD093posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       love this:)

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    LauraD093posted 11 years ago

    i just posted a forum in free discussion on this very topic**oops** I posted a link which goes into detail and predicts Friday or Monday the 18th...sigh

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       paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       This time there is some real speculation as to whether this Panda Perpetration will be good news or bad news.

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    LauraD093posted 11 years ago

    this is the link-it goes into some detail but it is still pretty vague...sigh
    
    
    http://searchenginewatch.com/article/22 … n-in-Works

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       Barbara Kayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       If you read the page on how to fix your site, one of the suggestions is to get rid of pages that get low traffic. I guess all of our complaining about pages being de-indexed is the wrong thing to do. That is one of the suggestions. Get rid of low traffic pages. Google views them as a site with poor content.

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          SmartAndFunposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Interesting. Thanks for posting this.

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    technogupshupposted 11 years ago

    wait for events

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    Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years ago

    Well, if this time is anything like last time, I hope they at least offer us a cigarette afterward.

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       GoldenThreadPressposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Or...a last meal?--Best Regards--Deb

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          wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          If they would send me my accumulated earnings for the last several months, I could buy a hamburger.  And maybe even a second one for my wife; one last night out on Google!

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    Cheeky Girlposted 11 years ago

    Is it good, or will it be bad? Every time Google fine tunes the Google search engine, people's traffic gets a jolt. The first Panda update was like an earthquake across the web, and hubbers remember it mostly for the lost traffic and drop in reads we were getting. Some hubbers migrated to other places on the net in hope of better things.
    
    So memory serves us well. Google wants better results to appear in the Google search engine. Over at SMX West, Matt Cutts - the "Have-I-Got-news-for-you-about-your-search-position!" guy at Google intimated that the coming algorithm update would be significant and likely focus on 1) penalizing link networks, and 2) go after "low-quality" merchants. (We think that alluded to a penguin update.) So basically - that's a sideswipe at the unfortunate "Interflora" who got demoted on the web to nada over link misuse - and others, like that newspaper that was apparently selling links in the UK. (!)
    
    Google is slowly herding merchants towards using specific ad systems (hint - the Product listings Ads)  and not others. That is done by tinkering with (read - seriously reducing!) the natural or organic search positions! There is a dim slight chance the approaching juggernaut in your rear view mirror may actually pass you by and not nudge you off the road, as some anticipate. It depends on what other motorists you ask...
    
    Yup! Life is never boring with Google around..

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       PaulGoodman67posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, with their Adsense income declining dramatically, one suspects that their business plan is to recoup money by increasing the amount of advertising in the search engine results, with the reasoning being that they are increasing quality by setting up a paid relationship with sellers/affiliates.
       
       It would be crappy if Google page 1 just becomes a list of paid adverts when people are searching for products, though, you would hope that they would try to avoid that?

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       aa liteposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I've just seen that the BBC site received a "suspicious link profile" notification.  That site doesn't even have advertising! 
       
       My only hope is that HubPages has been slapped so many times that there is nowhere to go but up.  But who knows maybe I am fooling myself.
       
       Because I don't think Hubbers are particularly adept at making bad backlinks (at least on the industrial scale that sites that have SEO companies looking after them do), I don't think we have that much to fear from Penguin.  And the bad merchant thing doesn't apply, that's for websites of companies that actually sell things directly, I don't think Amazon is considered bad or untrustworthy. 
       
       It seems like now is the time for Squidoo to get a beating, there is some desperate action over there to clean up all the "nothing but 100 Amazon products" pages.  Which is a pity because I started making nice money there just before all this happened.
       
       But as long as one of the sites I write on can rank well, it is not too bad.  If both HP and Squidoo are punished, that could be pretty nasty.

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    Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years ago

    Somebody put in a good word with that seagull hanging around the chimney over the Sistine Chapel.

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    David 470posted 11 years ago

    Oh man! I hope this does not have a negative effect on me because I never got back to the point where I was doing well with traffic/earnings in later2011 and beginning of 2012.  Those algorithms and everything decreased my traffic.

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    Winterfateposted 11 years ago

    I'm currently at my highest lifetime point here at the site. So, I think it goes without saying that I hope that traffic improves and no one gets hit by this Panda.

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    ContriveITposted 11 years ago

    What gets me the most is how lately, they give more rank to these scammy local review/biz listing sites. If they are genuinely interested in getting people to quality results, this is clearly not the way.
    
    Its been proven time and time again that a majority of these sites filter good reviews and want you to pay to have them released but meanwhile, a bad review will post immediately and spread through the search engines like wildfire.  Don't believe it? See for yourself.
    
    This coupled with the fact that the listings are ranked by "who pays the most" ends up being the worst possible results a search engine could possibly offer to the end users.
    
    [/rant] ;-P

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       David 470posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I completely agree with you. A lot of spammy sites and articles end up getting ranked higher and end up hurting legit people....
       
       HubPages would likely have a bettere reputation/ranking etc.. if people did not come on the site and spam and copy others content....
       
       Maybe one day I can write for a fitness or video game company that pays upfront. We have to rely on views and advertising bidding. I mean passive income is great, though. It's just hard to make consistent amounts IMO and experience.
       
       I miss the good old days on here when I could rank better and felt my work   was not going down the drain so to speak.
       
       I need to get more motivated, though. Even though not every single hub is going to get a lot of views, the more we write the better chance we have of one getting ranked higher or going semi-viral.

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          ContriveITposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          With all due respect, I know you're proud and have every reason to be however;  you might want to put a shirt on when you're talking to tons of people. ;-P No, offense intended, just friendly advice.

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             David 470posted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Not appropriate for HubPages?

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    Len Cannonposted 11 years ago

    Man, I dunno, I hope for the best, but I got a bad feeling.  Don't know if I can handle it if I lose all my traffic just after I got it back to a reasonable level.

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       Winterfateposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       You're telling me. I nearly hit 5000 views in a 24 hour period about a week ago, and right now am still holding at around 3500-4000 views per 24h. I'll probably have a crisis if my views plummet post-Panda.
       
       I already suffered through a sandbox about a year ago or so and it wasn't pretty. I went down from 1500 to 350 views. Since I was also working a "normal job" at the time, I stopped writing on this site completely, until suddenly the sandbox wore off and my views started coming back.

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          Paul Maplesdenposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          What's a 'Sandbox' in this context please?

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             Winterfateposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Well, a Sandbox is when you have a large amount of content with keywords that normally would land in the top of the search engines, but due to having a young website (in this case, my account was newer) you get sandboxed, lowering your traffic, since Google wants to reward people who have sites with an established theme. Once your site matures, you get the traffic you deserve if your content deserves it. Or, at least that's how it felt to me when it happened. I could be wrong, of course.
             
             To be honest, it could've just been observer's bias, as complaints about sandboxes seem to have pretty much disappeared in the wake of Panda, Penguin and other such Google-bred animals.

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    jansharesposted 11 years ago

    gjorh snvlsee nkklkqa nfjhriq; ivhw bqdjvk bsfue??????? What?

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       Winterfateposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Hmm, is that a cypher of some sort?

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          jansharesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          No, it's my humorous way of saying it's all Greek to me. I posted a question in Q&A. Thanks for asking Winterfate

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             Winterfateposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Ah, I see. I was about to sit down and start trying to crack it.

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                jansharesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                Lol, lol, lol, I guess I over did it. Off to bed now, good night.

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                   Winterfateposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                   Good night. Sleep well.

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    Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years ago

    I'm seriously thinking of going through my hubs with the lowest traffic and checking whether they have the minimal number of hits from Google (rather than just looking at the number of views listed in the 'account' table), and getting doing something - not sure what.  I have already tweaked & edited, etc., but if low Google traffic on even a handful of pieces is enough to drop traffic on the ones getting good traffic, why mess with them?  These are good and informative hubs, but probably have too much competition or something. 
    
    Up until now, I've been editing things regularly to avoid the idle thing.  Now I'm not sure what to do.  But, overall, my traffic has increased greatly.  Guess I'll see what this weekend brings.  Going back to my bunker now . . .

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       Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Low traffic does NOT drop traffic elsewhere.
       
       It is the only measure HP have to guess at what Google are punishing us for.
       
       Low traffic might mean good quality/low traffic or it might mean Google doesn't like it.
       
       Either way it isn't getting traffic so HP can drop it and maybe appease Google.
       
       Our choices, as I see them, are.
       
       1.  Drop the page. Delete it.
       2.  Leave it as idled for a later decision.
       3.  Fix it, improve it. Content and keywords.
       
       Marcy, I very much doubt you have dodgy pages bringing down your overall Google reputation.

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          prettydarkhorseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I like the a in your avatar Mark Ewbie. Epicness. :-)

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             Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Sssshhhh.

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                prettydarkhorseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                LOL

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                Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                Thanks for the nice words a few posts back, Mark. I went to check out your 'a' (can we get HP to buy it from you?  I like it better than the one I wear).  And since I needed a sanity and humor break, I read some more if your hubs.  Priceless, as always.  Also voted up to ensure continued top-quality content here.
                
                Any more magnets in the works?

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    Rock_njposted 11 years ago

    My hubs are actually having a good day for a Friday.  The funny thing about these Google Panda and Penguin updates is that they have the broad goal of ensuring Google searchers find relevant and good information from their search, and a site like HubPages largely delivers just that, so perhaps in the long run HubPages will do better as Panda and Penguin are refined.

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       Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Hmmm.  I'm surprised no ones asked me to just move my content for the weekend until Google goes away again.

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       LauraD093posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       One can hope-Question- I have no current hubs idled except for a couple Christmas themed ones is it below 75 that they should be pulled/edited what have you?

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          LauraD093posted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Sorry folks I need coffee...badly... was up writing last night and am brain dead what I meant to say is 75 or below on a hub when you should pull and edit or delete or if still featured should I let them be?

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             Rock_njposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             It would be helpful to know what causes a hub to go below 75.  Does anyone know or know of a learning tool that explains the hub score?

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                wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                The learning center has a little bit, but only in the most general of terms.  Traffic plays a part, as does a random number added in, for instance. 
                
                You won't find anything of any real value in determining what a hub should score.

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             ktrappposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             I don't worry about the Hub score, what I do is look at the traffic stats. Sort your stats by using the 30 day column, and if they're low (with the exception of seasonal Hubs not currently in season), then it's a good idea to see where you can make improvements to increase traffic. At least this is how I select Hubs to improve, which, by the way, can be as simple as having a more search-friendly title if all else is well.

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34. 64

    prettydarkhorseposted 11 years ago

    Before sites get whoopings from G, some usually spike up. Hope not because my views are slowly climbing up.

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35. 64

    prettydarkhorseposted 11 years ago

    There are reported movements in rankings which started last week!

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       wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       If anything, traffic has steadied the past few week - no ups and no downs. 
       
       Now should I be pleased or unhappy?

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          SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Calm before the storm perhaps!!! Has Panda hit yet I wonder?

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             wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Maybe it's the calm.  I'm not going up, so maybe it's the spring/summer doldrums hitting and I should be happy I'm not falling.  And maybe G has decided that I will stabilize that this level and never do anything different.
             
             Who knows?  Reports are still early, but it does appear that the change was made last night/early this morning.

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          prettydarkhorseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          G said we can't feel it at one time, it is slowly climbing up, going down, seesaw or just steady. No shocker this time unlike the first time (Feb. 2011).

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    Anurag2008posted 11 years ago

    Breaking: Google Panda Update is Rolling Out - http://www.webpronews.com/google-panda- … rt-2013-03

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       Rock_njposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I was just reading that and about to post the link.  Looks like it started late on Thursday and is rolling out today.

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       Rock_njposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I also came across this about a big Penguin update coming later this year:
       
       Although the Panda refresh is coming sooner, a Penguin update is also on the horizon – and Cutts said that it’ll be a big one. Cutts said that it will be one of the most talked-about updates of the year.
       
       http://www.webpronews.com/matt-cutts-pa … ar-2013-03

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    lorddraven2000posted 11 years ago

    My earnings have dropped royally since this panda algorythm. It is killing me

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    Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years ago

    Content used to be King.  Now it's ad clicks, I guess.

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    Paul Maplesdenposted 11 years ago

    How is everyone's traffic doing today? You can get an hour by hour graph of visitors by going to Google Analytics > Audience > Overview and then click 'Hourly' above the graph.
    
    My traffic today is pretty similar to how it's been all week, around 8-10 visitors per hour and in the live stats I'm still seeing a fair view visitors from Google Search.
    
    edit - Darned typos!

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       Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Mine is moving around a bit.  It doesn't help having a fair amount of HP traffic recently - so please stop that.
       
       I watch live feed - it's addictive.  A moment ago I was thinking "ooh nice" and then I realised.
       
       Sometimes traffic goes up as they 'test' your site and then...
       
       Kaboom.
       
       I think it will be a long weekend.

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       SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Pretty much the same as it has been for the last week...

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          molometerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          All of my hubs seem to be getting fondled at the moment. I feel a little sullied. lol

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    jacharlessposted 11 years ago

    Just a heads-up. The Panda has already begun rolling out.
    But two very important notes should now be looked at:
    Panda was a manual update. According to the source, it will now become apart of the algorithm itself, as to, and I quote, "Make it less visible to see on such a large scale".  This then brings the question, will Penguin also become apart of the standard algo after its next roll-out (which is expected directly behind this Panda refresh)?  If yes, both elements will be integrated and ongoing on a per crawl basis. In short, no one will see it coming or going as it is always going to be active.
    
    Panda = reducing Quantity of Content | Penguin = assessing Quality of Content.
    
    James.

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       Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Wonder what will happen to all those Panda Update blogs?

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          jacharlessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          +1! Poor fellows are going to have nothing to blog about. Well, there is always Taylor Swift. lol.

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       Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       What do you mean by 'reducing the quantity of content' - are you referring to hubs (here) that might be idled, or to something else?  Sorry for not understanding it completely - and thanks!

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          jacharlessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Hi! apologies for the delayed response.
          Panda is a solution designed to reduce the number of pages/links (quantity) in the entire Google directory. It does not necessarily mean idle hubs. It really depends on several elements. The primary ones are clean links, proper submission, overall content size, title, etc. The solution will filter out what it considers to be non-compliant pages. Until resubmitted/re-crawled these pages will be deleted from their directory.
          
          To my knowledge, Idle hubs do not even get out of the gate (are automatically no-indexed) which means the engine/spider does not even recognize they exist. And if previously indexed will be hidden from the spider.
          
          One of the main purposes of Panda is to restructure the hierarchy of web-pages, and their elements. This is actually a collaborative effort between Bing/Yahoo & Google. The old method of indexing is slowly being replaced with a new schema. This new method will immediately identify junk, spun, duplicate, redundant content then categorize pages based on inline data the spider finds. The Penguin portion is designed (like HP QAP) to assess these inline elements for compliance with its protocol. If the pages pass the first turing test (Panda), they then go through a second test (Penguin) are given the green light (positioning in the main search, as well as sub-category searches (images, recipes, books, local)) based on the overall results. This is [purely speculative here] why HP integrated their own QAP and are using mTurk. These two tests help reduce internal clutter, making it easier on the engine. Which really leans more toward the Penguin portion.
          
          this new schema is essentially based on the page structure, inline content, enhancements, links etc found within since the engine has pretty much retired the meta-tag protocol (meta keywords, etc) in favor of specific/targeted hierarchy (Person, Webpage, Creative Writing, Recipe, Review, Book, Video, White paper/Wiki). And with it going "stealth", both Panda & Penguin will work back to back, on a crawl by crawl basis, as part of the entire indexing process, to insure well developed pages and their content are indexed "correctly".
          
          I hope that made sense. lol. Espresso has not kicked in completely.
          James.

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             agvulpesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             G'day James, just to pick up a point!!!  which I hope is not 'true'  Surely the above would be regarded as some sort of 'collusion' and be against some 'Anti-Trust' Law?

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                jacharlessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                I do not think it violates any laws per say. Maybe it violates the mark-up language code of conduct but doubt it. They are just reassembling, using this particular mark-up and filtration protocol. Under the Creative Commons license, Bing/Yahoo and Goo are working together on the project. After months of reading over the white paper, am optimistically happy with it, as a web developer. It makes so much more sense. True, it is going to require a lot of work on the developer end, but that's the price to pay for quality.
                
                If you venture over to schema.org, w3c.org or even Bing, you can get information on how engines are now viewing and  otherwise suggesting the formats for page content elements. Also look at Webmaster Tools Documentation.
                James

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                   agvulpesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                   Ok thanks for that clarification I will do just what you have suggested and catch up on my reading

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                   Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                   I think what agvulpes is questioning is whether it's legal for all three search engines to collude together on the project. Not whether what they're doing is legal, but whether it's anti-competitive for them all to work together.

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                      Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                      If the search engines are collaborating on quality standards & on upholding laws about copyrights., etc, they're probably not violating any rights of writers or sites.  If they're somehow agreeing only to rank sites that pay them money, or to fix pricing (for advertisers, etc.), that would be worth investigating.
                      
                      They have probably had pressure from advertisers who want to know their dollars are being spent to have placements on pages that are appropriately ranked (still appears to be a problem), and that aren't pulling scans of some sort just to drive ad revenue.
                      
                      If sites like HubPages can truly achieve a predictable and high level of quality and thwart the junk pages from getting published at all, collaboration between the major search entities could help us.  If, that is, they have a collective goal of raising the standards on the Internet.  I'm hoping their collaboration is to set quality standards (meaning they will eventually drive down the amount of awful stuff that's on page one of searches).  The active writers on our site produce good content - that's what will win.

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41. 84

    aa liteposted 11 years ago

    Aaaarggh My traffic is noticeably up, even though it's friday when it usually falls for the weekend.  I guess that's the Google Bear shaking its head over them, and they will never see the light of day again!
    
    Anyway its been nice knowing you guys.

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    DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years ago

    Grrrr......
    
    I am so sick and tired of Google's machinations.....and I flunked ESP 101....
    
    I currently have over 200 articles; some of which are poems, and many of those have low traffic, as is expected here...those are my earliest posts...before I learned that HP is not a poetry-compatible site.
    
    HOWever, there are many other of my articles that don't seem to get much traffic, either, and if I take them ALL down, I'll probably have less than 100 articles left!!  Frustrating, as I worked hard on all of the pieces; they are completely original, and I did my best to make them educational, as well....I guess people don't want to be educated about certain things....like corporate greed...or maybe, HP being a corporation, felt they had to stick together with other corporations, (even though there is no size comparison between HP and the subjects of the articles--giants such as AT&T and PG&E).....and penalized those Hubs by de-indexing them... 
    
    If I have to start taking down that many hubs, I may as well just leave.

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    leahleflerposted 11 years ago

    My traffic is also up... and it terrifies me. I feel like I am waiting for the crash.

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       Rock_njposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       There is always the chance that a Panda update could actually benefit traffic to hubs.  What if Google elminates some of the lower quality competition and your hubs move up in the rankings?  Frankly, with the high quality content I see here at HP, I think it's just a matter of time before it starts floating to the top of Google.  That's what Panda and Penguin are all about; increasing the quality of the search results.

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          DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          How can we tell?  Hasn't happened yet....Every "Panda" slap to date has had deleterious effects...

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             Rock_njposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             We'll find out soon enough.  The Panda update is happening now according to published reports.  So far, the effects here at HP haven't seemed to be bad.  My hubs are having a good day for a Friday (just one data point).

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    Mark Ewbieposted 11 years ago

    My traffic is so-so - nothing has moved much.  I am equally terrified.
    
    Sometimes I think about Google making a mistake and giving me top slot for all my pages.  That would be quite good.

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    mayzaposted 11 years ago

    I always hate Panda....

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       DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I think it is MOST unfortunate that they chose to name these updates, which are not the least bit cute, after such a cute animal!

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          rebekahELLEposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          It is named after one of the engineers at Google, Panda.     I guess he was a very key player in making it possible.   It is strange now that we have this Panda/Penguin thing.  I don't know how they came up with the name Penguin..
          (The link is an old, interesting, Wired interview with Cutts and Singhal.)

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          Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I agree - why tarnish the reputation of cute animals.  I'd suggest something like "Snake," but I like Randy Godwin too much to do that.

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    SimeyCposted 11 years ago

    Here's something interesting - my blog (which only gets about 5 or so visits a day) has had visits at the following time:
    
    8:00PM, 12:00AM, 4:00AM, 8:00AM
    
    Every four hours - very strange!!!

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    Winterfateposted 11 years ago

    My traffic seems to be stable within that 3500-4000 view range I mentioned a while ago.
    
    *crosses fingers*
    
    More hits would be beautiful, but stability wouldn't be half-bad with my current status.

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48. STAFF

    Paul Edmondsonposted 11 years ago

    It's possible it started yesterday afternoon.  When I look at the overall data by hour it seems to dip 3 to 4% than go up a couple percent....Nothing shocking on a grand scale.  The changes started Thursday afternoon.
    
    I still don't think google has digested all of the content changes that have been made across HubPages.  We are working on a few ways to speed that up.  I hope that Panda updates more regularly so that we can see if the improvements are leading us to a better (and more stable) future:)

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       Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks for the global look at the initial impact here, Paul.  Can you answer a few more questions (if possible)?
       
       Do you see any patterns in which type of hubs have had dips?
       
       As Google (Cutts) stated, this will be ongoing rather than huge hits at once - is there any way to predict if we might see a steady series of dips as we go forward?  Maybe even based on newer content that slips through QAP, or something?
       
       Many thanks!

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    MelissaBarrettposted 11 years ago

    If the stats updating goes down this weekend, there just might be suicides.
    
    HP should do the responsible thing and set up a hotline...

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       janderson99posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Dare I say it!
       Last Stats 73 minutes ago!
       now its 35 minutes, but stats values have remained the same

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       wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       OMG - I hadn't even thought of that!  I may be the first casualty.

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    prettydarkhorseposted 11 years ago

    We will never know anymore if there is a confirmed roll out as Cutts of Goggle said :
    
    "the update — and future updates — would no longer be apparent as an abrupt change. Rather, Panda changes would roll out over a series of days".
    
    From Google - “I don’t expect us to tweet about or confirm current or future Panda updates because they’ll be incorporated into our indexing process and thus be more gradual.”
    
    But we can monitor our keywords and check Google Analytics.

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