Matt Cutts, Google’s head of search spam, announced Google updates at the Search Marketing Expo (SMX) which took place in Seattle on June 11-12.
Panda Dance
Cutts has confirmed that the Panda Update, released February 2011 to prevent poor quality content from obtaining high Google rankings, is being updated monthly but rolled out slowly, roughly every 10 days. Some SEO’s are calling this the Panda Dance as an allusion to the Google Dance, which is a reference to the shift in rankings that occurred every time Google made an update to its algorithm.
Spammy Queries
Cutts also announced the launch of a global effort to target traditionally “spammy queries” such as payday loans and pornography. This movement did not take too well with some black hatters nor hackers who violate online security for personal gain. So much so that one UK hacker bypassed the Google update to make a point.
Though one hacker may have gotten his laughs, the update has proven to be effective for the most part and has caused quite a stir in some black hat forums like blackhatworld.com.
The updates, which will be rolling out over the next couple of months, are intended to clean up the search engine of spammy or untrustworthy sites and should not affect rankings for reputable sites.
Any way to find what the payday loan update targeted??
Josh, I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t think so. Aside from “payday loans” and pornographic terms, I don’t think Google wanted to disclose much more than just “spammy queries.”
Josh, I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t think so. Aside from “payday loans” and pornographic terms, I don’t think Google wanted to disclose much more than just “spammy queries.”