Every time Google makes some change to its algorithm that webmasters notice, lots of people jump to conclusions that it’s another Panda update. This is simply not the case. In fact, it’s usually not the case.
Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable is pointing to some discussion in WebmasterWorld where people talk about the possibilities of a new Panda update.
Luckily, Schwartz has already confirmed with Google that there it was not Panda or a Panda data refresh.
Google makes changes to is algorithm every day. It makes roughly 500 of them each year.
In either late March or early April, we should see a big list of changes that Google has made this month. A Panda update was included in February’s list, which Google said refreshed the data in the Panda system, “making it more accurate and more sensitive to recent changes on the web.”
It’s worth noting that while Google may not have a new Panda update happening right now, the last one was designed to make it more integrated into Google’s piplelines.
Soon, webmasters may have a whole new round of Google changes to deal with as the company reportedly gets ready to expand its direct answer results.
