## What Is Google Panda?
The **Google Panda Update** was first launched in 2011 and named after Google Engineer, Navneet Panda, when content farms rose in popularity. It was developed to decrease the number of low-quality websites appearing in [SERPs](/glossary/serp) and boost the rankings of websites that adhered to guidelines. It is now integrated into Google’s core algorithm.
## What Triggers The Panda Algorithm?
The Panda algorithm targets any factor that will undermine [user experience](http://growhackscale.com/marketing-glossary/user-experience-ux) and reduce the quality of a web page.
Below are some of the main factors:
### 1. Content Farming
The Panda update was initially created to combat '[content farming](/marketing-glossary/content-farming)'. This is when a website produces lots of content with the core purpose of fulfilling [SEO](https://growhackscale.com/marketing-glossary/search-engine-optimization) for algorithms.
### 2. Low Quality Content
Low quality content is a big trigger for Panda. This includes [keyword stuffing](http://growhackscale.com/marketing-glossary/keyword-stuffing), thin content, poor grammar and spelling, poorly researched content, and content from unverified sources, to name a few.
### 3. Pages That Aren’t Optimised
These pages completely overlook the importance of SEO and aren’t user friendly. They have usually completed no [keyword research](http://growhackscale.com/marketing-glossary/keyword-research), their content is poor quality and they have no [meta descriptions](http://growhackscale.com/marketing-glossary/meta-description-seo).
### 4. Lots of Ads
Another factor that will see a Panda penalty is a **high ad-to-content ratio**. Panda cares about high quality content.
If your site is bombarding the end-user with a large quantity of ads that distracts from the content, then things aren’t looking good for you.
## Why Is the Google Panda Update Important?
Although the Panda Update is now part of [Google’s core algorithm](/blog/google-algorithm-updates), which means there won’t be any Panda-specific updates, it is still important because it assesses content the same way. It also has the same consequences.
A Panda penalty works on a domain level, which means that a whole site will be penalised for the poor content of one page. Much like a [Penguin penalty](/marketing-glossary/penguin-update), Panda **reduces rankings which leads to less traffic to a site**.
## How to Recover from a Panda Penalty?
Recovering from Panda is a difficult task. This is because it derives from a quality issue with a website. So, sometimes a whole website overhaul is required to fix the issues.
Below are some of the ways that websites can bounce back from Panda.
- Make sure that your content is **useful, unique and free of errors**
- Remove **any content that is copied from other sites**, or duplicated on other pages of your website
- Review the amount of advertisements and affiliate links on your website and their arrangement. Ensure that your content shines through
- Avoid any [cloaking](http://growhackscale.com/marketing-glossary/cloaking) techniques
- **Review old content** - remove it if it is no longer relevant, or optimise it if it still adds value to your site
### What Tools Can Help You Bounce Back?
There are some tools to help ensure your site is full of quality content.
- [SEMrush](/go/semrush)
- Google Keyword Planner
- Spyfu
- WooRank
- Ubersuggest
- Keyword Finder
### How Can We Help?
Have you been penalised due to the Panda Update? Something is going wrong!
Contact us to get matched with a team who can look into it for you and make sure you don’t fall victim again.
Meanwhile, you should check out [our training courses](https://growhackscale.com/academy) to learn effective techniques to boost your SEO without any fear of Google penalties.
