Google has begun rolling out version 4.0 of its Google Panda, according to an announcement from Matt Cutts, the company's head of research, on Twitter.
The Panda algorithm is designed to prevent websites with poor quality content from ranking high on search results pages. Google seems to be aiming to provide its users with the best and highest quality options.
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Google Panda 4.0 changes the way websites are ranked to appear at the top or bottom of search results. If you’re wondering if this will affect your “small” website’s ranking, Matt Cutts previously explained that it could help small businesses rank higher in search results. Basically, Google was planning at the time to “soften” the Panda algorithm in a way that would give smaller businesses the opportunity for extra visibility.
Many small business owners have complained about the Panda algorithm several times, saying that their websites have more or less disappeared from search results.
However, Google seems to have updated its policy to give visibility to websites with high-quality content. The well-established “tricks” with keywords to rank well on the results pages seem to no longer work, while other tricks for better SEO will be penalized by the company.
Google's Panda algorithm will affect the ranking of an entire website or a section of it, not individual pages. Since its inception, Google has updated Panda once a month, but as of March 2013, the company announced that any additional updates would be incorporated silently and on a regular basis.
