Google's Panda Update 2.0 And Domain Ranking Weight

[David G]

I would like to see examples 3, 4 or more word names before and after Panda, which would be more interesting what with their exact keyword targeting potential.

[Seraphim]

These are all sites that I believe have lost some ranking positions either during Panda 1 or Panda 2 (at least in the Google.com datacenters that I'm accessing):

palmsprings.com #3
travel.com #5
jewelry.com #2
lawyer.com #5
oregon.com #5
beefjerky.com #3
krakow.pl/en/ #2

My gaelic.com site dropped from #2 to #5.
My applepie.org site dropped from #3 to #16

Looking closely at my own sites I've noticed that my .coms mostly dropped 1 - 5 places, while many of my .orgs and .nets dropped 10 - 15 spots. There is some pretty remarkable consistency to that. I've always had a hunch that .orgs were favored by Google based on how mine have been treated over the long term (they were always ranked quicker, weren't sandboxed as often, etc.). It always felt like they had less "trust" obstacles to overcome in getting them to rank and hold rank (my own personal theory based on observation).

Obviously there are a gazillion other factors at play here, but I'm absolutely convinced domain keyword weight and possibly other TLD specific ranking factors have been reevaluated, turned down, and or adjusted. TLD trust weight, domain keyword weight...? Hopefully Matt Cutts can fill us in on how domains are now being evaluated by Panda 2.0, obviously I'm not going to hold my breath though.

Check out this thread for a growing list of people affected by the update. Many people are listing their domains in the thread.

http://www.google.com/support/forum/...04a0de863cda53





---------- Post added at 07:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:50 PM ----------

I would like to see examples 3, 4 or more word names before and after Panda, which would be more interesting what with their exact keyword targeting potential.

I have a 3 word really old site called shrimpcocktailsauce.com. It was rock solid at #2 for 3 years or so, it dropped to #5 with Panda 2.0. That's a really low competition search phrase so I was surprised to see that ranking loss.

[south]

I think a couple of important lessons to be learned here are:

a) G is trying to rank "end user" sites higher, rather than affiliate / adsense sites. Therefore, it is time to become the end user of your domains, at least the better ones.

b) Diversify. I have several niches, and multiple revenue sources. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Get sites going in multiple fields. Not so much that it becomes unmanageable, but as with any other investment, market sectors fluctuate. It's wise to have more than one revenue stream to help balance the losses when one sector drops off for seasonal (or for us) ranking fluctuations.

[H2FC]

a) G is trying to rank "end user" sites higher, rather than affiliate / adsense sites. Therefore, it is time to become the end user of your domains, at least the better ones.

Can you give some examples of how thats possible for the average domainer.....that is without developing an affiliate or ppc site?

[dcristo]

I don't think EMD's have been impacted by the panda update at all.

G is trying to rank "end user" sites higher, rather than affiliate / adsense sites. Therefore, it is time to become the end user of your domains, at least the better ones.

End users and affiliates are mutually exclusive. The problem lies in being a thin affiliate site. If that is the case, you have a weak business model, but if you are providing value as an affiliate you have nothing to worry about and its a perfectly legitimate way to do business online. And why wouldn't it be? What difference does it make if you are selling your own product or someones elses.