Over the weekend, there was some discussion about a possible algorithm change or update at Google, and there was some speculation about whether it could be Panda or Penguin related. Yesterday afternoon, Matt Cutts, Engineer and head of Google’s Web Spam team, announced via Twitter that “Google is rolling out our Panda 4.0 update starting today.”
Any time Google makes an algorithm update where an announcement is warranted, you can bet that there are changes that will impact many websites. A while back there was an exact match domain update, and I believe that had an impact on the domain name aftermarket. Over the last year or so, I’ve heard from several prospects who mentioned that keyword domain names aren’t as important for SEO. Perhaps that was simply a negotiation tactic, but regardless, if people think they aren’t as valuable, they won’t pay as much.
I don’t know whether the Panda 4.0 algorithm update will impact exact match domain names, but it’s something domain investors should follow. Even though I only operate a few websites, I pay close attention to Google updates in the event that they impact my business (website publishing or domain sales). You are welcome to share what you’ve noticed (if anything).
If you want to learn more about the Panda 4.0 update, you should check out a few of these articles that have not only covered the update, but they also have some great discussion in the comment sections:
- Google Begins Rolling Out Panda 4.0 Now  – Search Engine Land
- Google Panda 4.0 Now Rolling Out; A New Panda Algorithm – Search Engine Roundtable
- Evolution In Action; Google’s New Panda 4.0 Rollout – Forbes
- Google Launches Panda 4.0 – Search Engine Watch
- Google Launches Two Algorithm Updates Including New Panda – WebProNews
I just checked all of my website rankings and for many of the keywords I track my sites moved up in google between 3 and 5 spots. Hopefully it is a sign of good things to come from this update.
HI Brian,
Just a question?
Did you have many of your keywords in Titles or on the site at all?
I have been looking into this and some say this Panda update was for over optimisation of the titles and pages.
I do have a few keywords in my titles and on my pages, but they are not overly optimized. I have not checked, but I would guess my keyword density is below 1%.
I own a few developed sites and can see some significant changes in SERPS for these sites but also for many of my competitors.
EMD have lost most of heir SEO value a long time ago imo. Can anyone find Candy.com on the first page of Google for the kewyord Candy? Or the 2nd page?
RE: Candy.com
If you look at the source code to candy.com it is quite easy to see why they do not rank in searches… MANY simple mistakes that are counterproductive to being ranked well. Words are mis-spelled in the meta… and the meta for keywords is completely blank… not to mention nondiscript coding… lake of any focused effort on being ranked, as a matter of fact is seems to be purposely coded not to be ranked… I am surprised at the very basic errors there…
lake should be lack.. 😉