What is Panda 3.3?

Panda 3.3 is the latest version of Google’s algorithm, that targets unnatural link profiles. It has caused a loss of ranking for many sites due to decreased value of the inbound links pointing to their site. Inbound links have been devalued due to a change in the way Google assesses inbound links.

Here’s a link to what Google has to say: http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/02/search-quality-highlights-40-changes.html

• Place more emphasis on social media, and inbound links from social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, and Google+)
• Onsite content matching with the source page content of that link
• Content on source page in order to determine relevance of outbound link

Why Your Site Was Hit

You were hit because Google looks for patterns, and your sit did not fit their pattern for natural linking. Too many of your inbound links are exact-match anchor text links. Exact-match anchor text links have always carried a large weight ranking sites, with the new update that weight has significantly decreased. Google has also imposed a threshold of “too many” exact match anchor text links.

• Your site may have too many brand-name anchors. Anchor text that is brand name or variations of it are signals to Google of a natural link profile.
• Natural-looking link profile also includes what is called “junk” anchor, LSI anchor text, and naked URLs. Anchors such as “click here”, “here”, “Website”, “www.yoururl.com”, etc. LSI anchors are terms related to your keywords. Google looks as these links as being natural linking because most people link in this way.

What You Need to Recover

• You will need a link building campaign with lots of variation such as junk anchors, LSIs, naked urls, and brand-name anchors. Continue building these links until the scales are tipped back in your favor and the ratio of exact-match anchors is brought down.
• Revisit your website and review the content to ensure that you are using the keywords you would like to rank for and variations of those keywords.
• Add a social component so that you receive inbound links from social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.

If you have been hit by Panda 3.3 it may take several months to recover from the damage, but it is possible with the correct plan.

With the new timeline you can express your identity, reach your audience, and respond quickly in a personal way.

Design Changes

1. Cover Photo: A great place to brand your business/product this image is 851 x 315 pixels.
2. Profile Picture: Now takes an image that is 180 x 180 pixels and can scale down to 32 x 32 pixels.
3. Views & Apps: Your photos and custom apps are now at the top of the page, the other cool thing is you can customize the image that shows for each app. The size of these images are 111 x 74 pixels.
4. App Page Width: The app pages have increased in size, previously they were a narrow 520px now you have the option to make them Wide to 810px.

Cover Photo Restrictions

Can not include the following:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or
  “Download it at our website”.
• Contact information such as a website address, email,
  mailing address, or information that should go in your
  Page’s “About” section.
• References to Facebook features or actions, such as
  “Like” or “Share” or an arrow pointing from the cover
  photo to any of these features.
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your
  friends”.

Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must
not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property

Tips

1. Publish visually engaging page posts
2. Use Page Insights to optimize your posts
3. Set your best posts as “Allowed on Timeline”
4. Edit your Apps images
5. Take advantage of the larger app width

Read the Full
Facebook Product Guide

You can read more about Webbies and other categories at 2010 Webbie Winners