On Friday, I saw dozens of threads in the Google Webmaster Help forums with people complaining about major traffic loses. But the automated tracking tools from Moz, SearchMetrics, Algoroo, SERPS.com and others didn't really show any signs. Plus places like WebmasterWorld were fairly come, with the occasional person complaining.
So at first, I thought it was one of those mass manual actions that impacted some networks of sites. But I seem to be wrong. It looks like a Panda refresh, a large one of that.
Why do I think so?
(1) One person who complained received a response from Google's John Mueller this morning in the Google Webmaster Help forums. The response is the templated response Googlers give to Panda victims:
I'd recommend making sure your website has unique, compelling, and high-quality content of its own -- not just content from other websites.
(2) Glenn Gabe reported several of his clients who is helping with Panda issues saw recoveries on Friday.
@rustybrick Some big recoveries across clients of mine fighting big Panda hits. Also some temp recovery situations that are back now.
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) September 9, 2014He even shared screen shots of Analytics showing the recoveries:
Did you see any Panda sites recover or get slammed on Friday?
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help and Google+.
