Yesterday we reported that Google rolled out a "minor" update to the Google Panda algorithm, which we labelled Panda 2.5.2.

The thing is, the level of complaints and forum posts, as well as comments on my post, is at a level that seems to be more than "minor" by our standards.

There are literally hundreds of complaints, complaints maybe at levels closer to a full major update to the Panda algorithm, as opposed to what we saw back on October 9th.

Here are some of the many threads I've seen with complaints at the Google Webmaster Help Forums, HighRankings Forums and WebmasterWorld.

Here are some of the complaints:

My 3-year-old site is about sharing the adventure of the renovation of my little house, with emphasis on energy efficiency and downsizing. Traffic has been growing steadily, thanks to all the original content, lots and lots of original photos, how-to's, interesting stories of the successes and failures. This is an ongoing project; as recently as last Thursday, I uploaded a page with some "Before and After" photos and descriptions. I have followed all the rules over the years, yet on the morning of October 14 I woke up to an unexplainable 60% drop in traffic. I've heard that Google has been adjusting its algorithm or something. I don't understand how that works but I know that I have not done anything to deserve this huge loss (which of course is translated into a corresponding loss of income from my site). I would like to hear FROM GOOGLE why my site was singled out for this disaster and what I can do to regain my traffic and my confidence in Google.

Oct. 14, 2011 - mid day, notice huge drop in traffic, a visitor here and there from google maybe every 2 or 3 minutes. Site is over 8 years old, no major changes have been done. Survived many Panda updates/tweeks prior to today, not sure what happened or how to go about fixing it. Any suggestions are welcome.

My site is about 13 months old. I have had increasing traffic until Oct. 14, when my traffic declined 67% overnight. I have put in hundreds of hours creating original, very informative, content to help my readers and I add about 4 pages per month. Is there something I have done to get this amount of loss in traffic?

Those are just a few of the hundreds of complaints in the various forums and blogs. To me, this October 13/14th update to Panda seems a lot more significant than what Google made it out to be. Or maybe I am wrong?

Take my poll:

How Significant Was Google Panda 2.5.2 (October 13th) Update?

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help Forums, HighRankings Forums and WebmasterWorld.

Image from bullet74/Shutterstock.