The payday loans algorithm at Google, so-called because of the vast number of spammy queries within that particular industry sector, rolled out a new release on May 19th (last week), coincidencing almost exactly with the Panda 4.0 updated which was officially rolled out the day after.
With the changes afoot as a result of this payday loan refresh, many speculated as to whether it was a Panda or a Penguin release, yet it actually related to neither and is targeted action specifically for sites centred around spammy queries. A spokesperson at Google confirmed, “Over the weekend we began rolling out a new algorithmic update [it] was neither Panda nor Penguin – it was the next generation of an algorithm that originally rolled out last summer for very spammy queries.”
Payday loans became the assumed moniker for Google for this specific targeting however the targeted keywords, industries and markets include many more areas. What precisely Google have implemented and how many search queries affected is unclear. It is known however that the majority of searches affected are on an international basis, with far fewer English language sites affected.
Given the Panda 4.0 update launched the following day it has led to come confusion with regards what Google measures have addressed which issues.
