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As many of you may be aware, DaniWeb was originally hit by the Google Panda algorithm back in February. We finally made a full recovery (and then some!) during the Panda update at the end of July.

We were just hit by Panda yet again this past week, which was the next Panda iteration after our recovery. Soooo ... now what? I've made some improvements to page load time and worked to decrease bounce rate. I've been fully documenting everything I've done here:

I guess we need to wait until the next Panda iteration (whenever that ends up being) to see if we'll recover? Does anyone know of any recoveries from Panda in-between Panda rollouts? Also, has anyone else been hit, made a complete recovery, and then been hit yet again? We're losing 50%+ of our traffic each time, so it's a definite yoyo.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by claydcousta

Dani AI

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Repeated Panda hits like the one describes are usually the algorithm re-scoring large sets of pages rather than a single manual action. That makes timing feel like a yoyo: changes can take effect only when Google re-runs the classifier, so the practical response is to stop chasing roll‑out dates and focus on remediating the pages that triggered the signal. ’s observation about recoveries lining up with refreshes is useful as an explanation of timing, but it shouldn’t replace systematic corrective work.

A concise, priority-first audit to start now:

  • Inventory: export every indexed URL and group by template (forum threads, tag pages, help pages, etc.).
  • Identify low-value pages: thin posts, near-duplicates, auto-generated listings, tag/category pages with little unique text.
  • Prioritize by traffic and impressions so fixes target the pages that matter most.

Concrete remediation steps (apply, document, monitor):

  • Improve content on pages that can be salvaged: add unique summaries, clear answers, structured headings and helpful internal links.
  • Consolidate similar pages with 301 redirects to a stronger canonical URL, or use rel=canonical when consolidation isn’t possible.
  • Noindex/remove pages that offer no unique value (better than keeping lots of thin pages indexed).
  • Clean up templates: unique titles/meta descriptions, reduce above‑the‑fold ad clutter, and keep page load and UX improvements like already started.

Backlinks, tests and cautions:

  • A raw link count drop (as noted) is often noisy; audit linking domains and link quality rather than totals. Remove or disavow only after careful review.
  • Moving content to subdomains (as tried) can give short-term movement but fragments authority and complicates recovery; treat as a last resort and document every change.
  • Keep a dated changelog (URLs changed, actions taken) and monitor landing-page organic sessions, impressions and CTR so effects can be correlated with future Panda refreshes.

Focus on fewer, higher-value pages. Make measurable, documented improvements now so the site is ready when the algorithm next refreshes.

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Member Avatar for trinsleynewton

well i don't know about recovery but the links of my website have decreased from 23000 to 21000, please guide me how can i cope with this problem?

Member Avatar for rocco88

It is hard as Google keeps changing there algorithm. Its hard to keep up.

Member Avatar for wcspaulding

Hi, Dani. I have followed your writings on Google Webmaster. My site was hit on April 10. It appears that the panda penalty is applied for a specific amount of time, rounded in whole months. You recovered almost exactly 5 months after the penalty was first applied. The websites that have suffered on April 10 had copied content on their site, so, I imagine, Google decided that justified a more severe penalty. My website has also suffered from the April 10 penalty because I had IRS articles on my site that were reformatted for better reading and had a few other advantages over the original IRS articles. I did not present these as my own — I did state on my website that they were reformatted IRS articles — but I did feel that I had added value to them. I don't think I did anything wrong since the IRS articles are not copyrightable and I did add value to them. However, I removed the articles back in April, and yet, my site has not recovered at all. However, I do expect a full recovery on October 10, exactly 6 months after this penalty was applied to my site, especially since Matt Cutts said to expect a ranking reshuffle over the next couple weeks. It appears that this is the way that Google applies penalties. Because as I have mentioned in your thread on Google Webmaster, the only sites that I know to have recovered from the February 24 penalty are your site and Liliputing.com. Both sites have recovered at the same time. The penalty that you suffered on September 28 was probably just an anomaly. So, I am expecting that the websites that have removed most of their copied content will recover on October 10 — at least, that is what I hope. Here is some official evidence that the panda penalties are applied for a specific time period, in this short YouTube video by Matt Cutts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES01L4xjSXE

commented: yoyo +1
Member Avatar for irish luck

serious pain in the head from Panda... urghhhh..

Dani your doc's are a great help... Thank you

Member Avatar for stellaandreapar

Quality content is still one key to make it to the top again. I have sites that are hit too. i just hope they recover as soon as possible.

Member Avatar for claydcousta

Moving content from sub folders to subdomains managed to get around panda on my test sites after they got hit (they are test sites so are there to keep track of the algorightm, I have LOADS, that are each weighted in content or link building to a particular element.

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