So, google got around to updating the Panda version of their algo this weekend. This is what Google officially had to say about it…

Panda refresh rolling out now. Only ~1.6% of queries noticeably affected. Background on Panda: http://t.co/Z7dDS6qc

So, only 1.6% of the queries were affected. While this might not seem like a very large percentage, I’d argue that it actually is, b/c the ones that it affected, it affected in a very large way.

As we’ve seen time and time again with Panda, Google has been slowly killing off the black-hat SEO networks. (Finally! I’m not a fan of people who cheat the system, as I am sure most people who play by the rules agree.) And, this update is really no exception. Google has made it clear they are targeting the blog networks and link farms. If you are using any of these services, you’re wasting your time. They aren’t necessarily going to hurt you but, they aren’t going to help. Google has started de-indexing these services one at a time, and I think this is primarily what this update has done, adding to their list of de-indexed networks.

Let’s take a look at the history of the Panda updates, compliments of SELand.

So, in short, don’t try and cheat the system, you’re only wasting your time and resources. Unless you’re doing affiliate marketing where you want to get to the top of the results for a short lived period of time, investing your time and money in these techniques isn’t going to get you anywhere in the long run.