The new Panda Update is here. About 4 months after the release of Panda 4.0, Google has announced a new iteration of the algorithm update via the Google+-Profile of an employee on Thursday.

The rather “slow” rollout already started early this week and is supposed to last till the beginning of next. Depending on the region, the update affects about 3%-5% of search queries.

The data is already live in our Software. Check out Searchmetrics Suite – Winners / Losers to get the current data in detail.

“New” Signals to Detect Low-Quality Content

Panda Updates focus on content quality. They are supposed to remove redundant, irrelevant content and spam from Google’s index. So far, this is nothing new. The interesting thing about the current Panda generation is the fact that apparently smaller and medium high-quality websites are supposed to benefit from the update.

Google said, based on feedback from both users and webmasters they have “been able to discover a few more signals to help Panda identify low-quality content more precisely”.

Following the bigger Panda 4.0 update, the new Panda seems to be a rather “small“ iteration. That’s why Search Engine Land is calling the 27th update from the Panda family “Panda 4.1“.

Panda 4.1 Winners and Losers

Just a friendly reminder: The following data is based on the organic SEO Visibility for each domain for all researched keywords, compared to our last data point. The actual traffic by each domain – for example brand and/or direct traffic etc. – can vary with values given here. Also a win or loss doesn’t necessarily mean a causation with Panda. Sometimes it is based on simple technical issues or redirects like nokia.com.

Let’s take a look at the data.

Google.com – Panda 4.1 Losers in the U.S.

Here is a filtered overview of the losers (SEO Visibility) ordered by percentage:

Domain – Loser Before After Change in % yellow.com 16383 3413 -79% similarsites.com 118771 25197 -79% free-coloring-pages.com 12268 2960 -76% dwyer-inst.com 13225 3229 -76% issitedownrightnow.com 69354 18376 -74% updatestar.com 13232 3788 -71% office365.com 29365 8781 -70% findthebest.com 30848 93937 -70% homewyse.com 14161 4410 -69% adelaide.edu.au 20351 6537 -68% pearltrees.com 16769 5503 -67% ok.co.uk 18226 5995 -67% socialcomments.org 27476 9058 -67% mybillcom.com 12258 4136 -66% tgiblackfriday.com 10037 3420 -66% discountsstory.net 20907 7337 -65% indyweek.com 13373 4826 -64% zabasearch.com 42679 15697 -63% exacttarget.com 14849 5729 -61% okc.gov 12547 4907 -61% no1reviews.com 18403 7235 -61% mademan.com 23006 9779 -57% studymode.com 10756 4611 -57% thefair.com 14067 6277 -55% appappeal.com 11265 5149 -54% chronicle.com 17244 8208 -52% lyricstranslations.com 16944 8077 -52% onhealth.com 118017 56735 -52% cherrybam.com 20178 9736 -52% nerve.com 17264 9016 -48% emedtv.com 30739 16266 -47% hubpages.com 30493 163548 -46% brothersoft.com 25357 13969 -45% collider.com 47733 26383 -45% 337.com 21172 12141 -43% hypestat.com 18047 10553 -42% telecomfile.com 17652 10448 -41% discountednewspapers.com 19472 11624 -40% bugmenot.com 25339 15152 -40% medterms.com 286956 172836 -40% translationcloud.com 43295 2674 -38% archive.today 48603 30085 -38% game-oldies.com 47279 2932 -38% kxan.com 26622 16609 -38% thinkbabynames.com 22762 14246 -37% amtrakcalifornia.com 18965 1192 -37% theepochtimes.com 34385 21638 -37% addresses.com 33042 21012 -36% hrblock.com 24599 15775 -36% areacode.org 33412 21799 -35% buzzle.com 76279 50134 -34% militarycac.com 30014 1977 -34% howstuffworks.com 1251213 827093 -34% eprize.com 42565 28358 -33% travelandleisure.com 110818 74347 -33% webutations.info 190251 127762 -33% appbrain.com 59235 40254 -32% enjoygram.com 28335 19322 -32% dailypuppy.com 24775 1701 -31% oxforddictionaries.com 383172 265208 -31% offers.com 56036 39082 -30% guardianlv.com 34268 24045 -30% thinkexist.com 138435 97364 -30% hallmark.com 61087 4381 -28% ehow.com 101928 73157 -28% laws.com 26208 18839 -28% greenwichmeantime.com 45629 32906 -28% miamiherald.com 99912 72274 -28% dubbed-scene.com 26502 1926 -27% bobdylan.com 27307 19881 -27% cardhub.com 49508 36101 -27% mommysavesbig.com 46118 33913 -26% healthcentral.com 47799 35173 -26% appcrawlr.com 29088 21595 -26%

Google.com – Panda 4.1 Winners in the U.S.

Here is a filtered overview of the winners (SEO Visibility) ordered by percentage:

Domain – Winner Before After Change in % comdotgame.com 2632 38231 1353% hongkiat.com 135 68372 406% babble.com 8963 42916 379% rd.com 17209 71434 315% mediamass.net 6839 27876 308% hotelguides.com 8563 32957 285% yourtango.com 30624 109148 256% moreofit.com 6431 22864 256% celebrity-gossip.net 10727 38068 255% spoonful.com 2813 89573 218% ivillage.com 11818 37065 214% 800-numbers.net 11809 34631 193% thepiratebay.se 2571 67457 162% aceshowbiz.com 21679 55059 154% dummies.com 42806 104764 145% geekwire.com 11606 28319 144% ispot.tv 12242 28062 129% womansday.com 11868 27195 129% bncollege.com 36738 76969 110% afterdawn.com 18519 38775 109% allwomenstalk.com 19836 41088 107% livescience.com 79499 164323 107% savings.com 25874 52886 104% fastcodesign.com 25303 50326 99% mystore411.com 24262 47482 96% health.com 120733 212827 76% unblocksit.es 23559 40897 74% newseum.org 36201 59205 64% netdoctor.co.uk 25973 41246 59% celebdirtylaundry.com 34511 53817 56% digitaltrends.com 137257 21076 54% quickanddirtytips.com 28288 43284 53% tvtropes.org 105715 160152 51% simplyrecipes.com 100684 149017 48% glamour.com 53907 77933 45% astrologyzone.com 45185 65237 44% chow.com 117933 168931 43% arstechnica.com 121742 171708 41% parenting.com 49936 70185 41% realsimple.com 180553 252922 40% webopedia.com 153512 213758 39% healthgrades.com 70386 97103 38% laptopmag.com 53221 73249 38% dispatch.com 44614 60412 35% dealcatcher.com 95757 128887 35% businessdictionary.com 104606 140213 34% vice.com 157693 208496 32% smithsonianmag.com 18069 238733 32% thefreedictionary.com 2124356 2774647 31% internetslang.com 50578 65093 29%

Conclusion: News, Content Sites and Download Portals win – Games, Lyrics and some Medical Portals lose

The 4.1 iteration of Panda ties in with the preceding updates. Losers are often games or lyrics portals as well as websites dealing with medical issues and content – to cut it short (here I am repeating myself): in general, it hit pages with thin content. Aggregators do not provide unique and relevant content.

It doesn’t seem to be very relevant for Google to list (that is: aggregate information about) sites that are down at the moment. That was measurable already with Panda 4.0 and it is true for the current update as well:

On the other hand, sites with quality content won. Babble.com has been a loser of the Panda 4.0 update and has now recovered quite impressively. And there are even more losers of Panda 4.0 that recovered. Just to name a few: rd.com, Hotelguides.com, Yourtango.com, Spoonful.com or ivillage.com. Also, some quality sites with relevant topic content like Simplyrecipes.com or brands like Glamour.com have benefited from the update.