Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of articles looking at the aftermath of Google’s Panda algorithm update, which launched February 24, 2011. To catch up, please see the first article in the series: Google Panda Two Years Later: Losers Still Losing & One Real Recovery.)
Google’s Panda algorithm update, which launched two years ago, had an enormous impact on the SEO industry and online publishing as a whole.
As with any Google algo change, there are winners and losers in its search results. In part one of this series, we looked at the current search visibility of some of Panda’s original losers and how they’ve fared since it rolled out.
But the impact on some of the sites that Panda hit goes well beyond rankings and search traffic. It’s forced some companies to change names, change business models, fire employees and even to go out of business altogether.
Here’s a look at what has happened to some of Panda’s losers over the past two years.
Launched
in 2006, HubPages.com is a user-generated content site where authors
can post articles (or “hubs” as the company calls them), ask and answer
questions or talk with others in a forum. With more than 1.1 million articles published, it would fit almost anyone’s definition of “content farm.”
The Panda update caused “a massive loss of traffic and revenue,” according to HubPages’ CEO Paul Edmonson (in an interview that we’ll publish tomorrow). According to data from SearchMetrics, HubPages SEO visibility is currently 62 percent lower than it was before Panda.
This chart shows how badly Panda hit HubPages — it’s the orange-colored line.
Google’s Panda algorithm update, which launched two years ago, had an enormous impact on the SEO industry and online publishing as a whole.As with any Google algo change, there are winners and losers in its search results. In part one of this series, we looked at the current search visibility of some of Panda’s original losers and how they’ve fared since it rolled out.
But the impact on some of the sites that Panda hit goes well beyond rankings and search traffic. It’s forced some companies to change names, change business models, fire employees and even to go out of business altogether.
Here’s a look at what has happened to some of Panda’s losers over the past two years.
HubPages.com
Launched
in 2006, HubPages.com is a user-generated content site where authors
can post articles (or “hubs” as the company calls them), ask and answer
questions or talk with others in a forum. With more than 1.1 million articles published, it would fit almost anyone’s definition of “content farm.”The Panda update caused “a massive loss of traffic and revenue,” according to HubPages’ CEO Paul Edmonson (in an interview that we’ll publish tomorrow). According to data from SearchMetrics, HubPages SEO visibility is currently 62 percent lower than it was before Panda.
This chart shows how badly Panda hit HubPages — it’s the orange-colored line.
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