Don’t Panic!…Panda’s UK SERP Attack

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%.

Top 20 “Losers” from Google’s Panda UK Update

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

Top 20 “Winners” from Google’s Panda UK Update

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.