It has been a week after the Panda was released upon the UK and other English-speaking countries. The Panda Algorithm update was released internationally last Monday and created some much expected “panda-monium” in the rankings for many thousands of sites in the UK and the world. Data from Search Metrics compiled a list of the biggest “losers” and the 20 biggest “winners” of the update.
At first glance, it looks that the update did what it was intended to do by attacking many product comparison sites, reviews sites and voucher code sites. Many of these “low-quality” sites fared poorly in the wake of the Panda.
Ciao’s UK site lost 94% of its online visibility while the user recommendations site Qype lost approximately 96% of its search engine visibility following the update. Other sites saw some incredible gains. Tech Crunch realized a 41% increase in its rankings and site like Mirror.co.uk, ITV.com and Metro.co.uk all saw an increase of about 20%.
Domain | New visbility | Old visibility | Change | % |
moneypage.com | 25 | 39231 | -39206 | -99.94 |
pricedash.com | 127 | 55141 | -55014 | -99.77 |
njobs.org.uk | 92 | 30693 | -30601 | -99.7 |
voucherstar.co.uk | 126 | 38748 | -38622 | -99.67 |
osoyou.com | 96 | 26668 | -26572 | -99.64 |
zath.co.uk | 161 | 39768 | -39607 | -99.6 |
shoppingvouchers.co.uk | 134 | 30056 | -29922 | -99.55 |
discountshoppinguk.co.uk (Link removed – no longer available) | 491 | 66270 | -65779 | -99.26 |
just-food.com | 293 | 39282 | -38989 | -99.25 |
webdevelopersnotes.com | 583 | 54948 | -54365 | -98.94 |
netvouchercodes.co.uk | 1935 | 152376 | -150441 | -98.73 |
pocket-lint.com | 2128 | 165956 | -163828 | -98.72 |
killerstartups.com | 869 | 52717 | -51848 | -98.35 |
wakoopa.com | 1334 | 71525 | -70191 | -98.13 |
aceshowbiz.com | 907 | 46188 | -45281 | -98.04 |
everydaysale.co.uk | 3822 | 175800 | -171978 | -97.83 |
hotfrog.co.uk | 1124 | 44863 | -43739 | -97.49 |
phonesreview.co.uk | 864 | 33418 | -32554 | -97.41 |
electricpig.co.uk | 1678 | 60882 | -59204 | -97.24 |
kgbanswers.co.uk | 1009 | 31427 | -30418 | -96.79 |
domain | New visibility | Old visibility | Change | % |
ebay.co.uk | 1469346 | 1034302 | 435044 | 42.1 |
techcrunch.com | 174797 | 124220 | 50577 | 40.7 |
national-lottery.co.uk | 292053 | 209357 | 82696 | 39.5 |
econsultancy.com | 186175 | 135804 | 50371 | 37.1 |
thisismoney.co.uk | 234717 | 180377 | 54340 | 30.1 |
siteslike.com | 175869 | 140279 | 35590 | 25.4 |
mirror.co.uk | 275876 | 220937 | 54939 | 24.9 |
blogspot.com | 1006719 | 819832 | 186887 | 22.8 |
mashable.com | 295137 | 240714 | 54423 | 22.6 |
itv.com | 345470 | 282300 | 63170 | 22.4 |
metro.co.uk | 181507 | 149271 | 32236 | 21.6 |
independent.co.uk | 471896 | 388280 | 83616 | 21.5 |
mozilla.org | 146282 | 122471 | 23811 | 19.4 |
youtube.com | 8856696 | 7446902 | 1409794 | 18.9 |
vimeo.com | 168979 | 142182 | 26797 | 18.9 |
wordpress.com | 331836 | 279738 | 52098 | 18.6 |
laterooms.com | 150533 | 127297 | 23236 | 18.3 |
dailymotion.com | 577590 | 490328 | 87262 | 17.8 |
soundcloud.com | 150998 | 128569 | 22429 | 17.5 |
Some sites are not happy with the numbers being reported by Search Metrics. They feel that the numbers do not accurately reflect what certain they have experienced. Doug Scott from discountvouchers.co.uk has refuted these numbers saying that:
If anyone wished for me to send them an image of our analytics then please contact me. Our traffic levels have not changed.
I am pleased to say that our staff and customers are no longer worried. After Search Metrics published some false data I have had to calm fears. Maybe their data is not what they are stating. Check your facts guys.
Doug Scott, MD
Search Metrics explains how they arrived at these numbers and the criteria that was used to arrive at their findings
Despite some possible discrepancies, preliminary evidence shows that the Panda appears to be doing what was intended by attacking low-quality sites and penalizing those that warrant an adjustment of their rankings the most.
If what we saw in the US, in any indication of what is to come, there will undoubtedly be many fluctuations continuing over the next few weeks as the SERPs are reorganized in an attempt to level the playing field for all. The biggest thing to take away from this post is to remember: “Don’t Panic!” …SERPs should settle down soon.