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    4. Website still not recovered from Panda # 20 (Sep 2012 update)

    Website still not recovered from Panda # 20 (Sep 2012 update)

    Intermediate & Advanced SEO
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    • Spinodza
      Spinodza last edited by

      Hi everyone,My website was hit by Panda around the 27th September 2012 (Panda # 20 or EMD) , since then, it's no longer in Google search results for a particular keyword [wallpapers], resulting in a massive sudden traffic drop (-90%) (see the screenshot below).Despite my best efforts auditing my links, identifying unnatural backlinks, disavowing bad links, enhancing my website content, improving user experience... (I even ended up with a completely revamped website: new design, new structure and new content), I didn't see any improvement! Can you please look at It and Advise me? I am ready to give up; I am in deep despair.What are my competitors doing better than me? Competitor #1 Competitor #2Thank you in advance - I appreciate your timeMy website: http://goo.gl/maaxazLroAvD5.jpg

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      • EGOL
        EGOL last edited by

        Most of the pages on this site simply display an image, a title, and some ads.

        Some of these images and their titles appear on many other websites.

        The goal of Panda is to demote sites that have skimpy content and content that appears on lots of other websites.  That is what I see at your website.

        When Google decides that a website deserves a Panda hit they demote the rankings of pages all across the website.

        So, if you want to get out of a Panda problem, that is going to require improving the uniqueness and substantiveness of the content.  The days that you can toss up a page with an image and a title and expect to get a lot of traffic are gone, especially when that same content is everywhere.

        If you want this site to be competitive then the content has to be competitive either in uniqueness or substantiveness, or both depending upon the competitiveness of your niche.   The best way to do that is to write about each image.  An image is worth a thousand words, I am sure that you have heard that.

        That's the best advice that I can give.  Getting out of Panda require either tossing out substandard content or doing a lot of work to make substandard content superior.

        Spinodza 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Spinodza
          Spinodza @EGOL last edited by

          Hi EGOL,

          Thank you for your response, and apologies for the delay responding, my English level is not perfect ... I'm better in French, it takes me time knowing and choosing the appropriate words to express myself.

          Regarding the uniqueness of the content, it's kinda difficult with images based websites, as any new image posted on internet is found instantaneously on imgur, flickr, Photobucket, and a multitude of other websites, and I cannot ask contributors for exclusivity.

          To remedy this issue, I've implemented an algorithm to smartly crop the original images by keeping intact their point of interest, which generate good quality wallpapers for a large choice of devices/ratio/resolutions (see example below)

          http://goo.gl/5IzPRb Original

          http://goo.gl/39ZzPg iPhone 5 version

          http://goo.gl/laa9Je Twitter Header version

          As you can see, the bird is emphasized, no matter the ratio or the size of the screen. Which makes it "unique" in my opinion, and add more value when compared to competition.

          Let me please reformulate my question: What would cause Google to favor Competitor #1  over My website ?

          Even on mobile, and for my main keywords (EMD), I see non mobile friendly websites rank way better then me.

          F3oXhVV.png

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          • EGOL
            EGOL last edited by

            The most important thing to do is to have generous amounts of informative text.  Lots of people use the same images, you can still have a good website if the text is generous in amount, unique, and meaningful.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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