Why Google Should Rename Panda Algo To PIRANHA

"My heart felt as though it had dropped out of my chest - onto the floor."

If a picture's worth a thousand words - and several thousand less website visitors a day - you're looking at it in the graph above. Just a sampling of rather random sites that got WHACKED by Google's mid October 2011 Panda update.

It doesn't matter how strong or weak SEO wise any of these 2-3 year old sites were, nor how strong their backlink authority was. ALL suffered traffic loss in what really was just broad-based fatal blow across an empire. Those hardest hit set traffic levels back to where they were a year or two ago. Smaller, lower-traffic sites have less to lose (relatively speaking) so fell less dramatically.

Visually, it's a word of warning to any and all Apple Mac webmasters, affiliate marketers and those out to MMO - Make Money Online. Cuz a good chunk of your dreams for sideline income or financial independence can VANISH in a single day.

A few things to ponder:

To a great degree, I don't feel these sites were directly 'PUNISHED' - Many just fell out of the top 1-5 keyword positions to spots further down Page 1 of SERP results. Had to make room for the big Holiday Retailers doncha know...

It appears VERY OLD Domains displaced these sites: That's common during the Holiday shopping season too - when, as in year's past - Google seems to temporarily favor highly aged domains of 5 or 10+ years or more. At other times of the year, Google seems to allow more 'little guys with high relevance' to squeak onto an extra slot or two on Page One when warranted.

Lastly - notice the FLATLINE trend moving forward... As I've tried to compensate for the traffic loss - I've noticed NOTHING, NOTHING SEEMS TO HELP MUCH. Normally some strategic internet marketing, upping on-page quality and link building efforts can get a site on an upward trajectory again. But Page 1 results seem largely "FROZEN" until the next update rolls around in the 2012 New Year?

Touche' Google : May I suggest your buzz-marketers make sure next year's algo tweaks get branded as 'PIRANHA 2012' to replace 'Panda' cuz your warm little fuzzy algo has clearly grown some SHARP TEETH in the past year!