elguiri - 4:44 pm on Apr 28, 2011 (gmt 0)

BTW, I think there are two different dynamics in this thread that probably need to be separated:

1. Panda I in the US (Feb), and Panda II in English language sites outside the US.

2. Panda II in the US.

In addition, this change also goes deeper into the “long tail” of low-quality websites to return higher-quality results where the algorithm might not have been able to make an assessment before. The impact of these new signals is smaller in scope than the original change: about 2% of U.S. queries are affected by a reasonable amount, compared with almost 12% of U.S. queries for the original change.

The important bit here is "new signals". i.e it was something else. Given that there sites in the same sectors, and targetting the same terms, that were affected by one, and not the other, reiterates that.

While the thinking behind Panda I and Panda II was pretty much the same, the medicine, I believe, is rather different.

In terms of the additional 2% of search terms, I think that would affect some sites with the Panda I treatment in sectors not previously touched. i.e. if your sector was untouched by 1, but you got hit by 2, you'll need to understand the changes that went on in both.

Is this making sense?