Panda is the code name for Google’s recent big algorithm change aimed at wiping search spam off its search results. The idea is that when you search for something like “baseball” or “Acapulco”, you get actual helpful results instead of just a bunch of crap sites that jiggered their own search engine optimization to get you to come look at their stupid ads. One of the biggest purveyors of, let’s say, sites of questionable value is Demand Media, which makes eHow and other sites. Demand Media was a hard nut to crack and seemed to get through the first round of Panda just fine but All Things D’s Kara Swisher cites a report that traffic to eHow is way down after new Panda tweaks. Demand Media insists nothing is wrong, business as usual.
More than anything, this is a sign that just as Google tried to adapt to search spam, search spammers will try to adapt to Google’s adaptations.
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