So what happens to your site Google trends for websites data after Google Panda strikes your site? Well most commonly the site traffic falls so much that it falls below the threshold of minimal traffic that is needed to keep your site relevant enough to be a part of Google trends for websites. Or it could be for a lot of other reasons.
Over the years, I have observed that Google trends for websites displays a very accurate traffic chart for most sites, probably extracting the data from Google analytics. Ever since Google Panda hit our website traffic, we observed that as our site traffic continued on a downward trend, Google trends for websites stopped displaying our data after April 2012.
Google website trends inclusion criteria are governed by Google algorithms and Webmasters cannot request inclusion by submitting any form. But if you look for any popular website, you’re sure to find its traffic chart out there. So they have pretty good inclusion criteria selected.
The Google Trends FAQ clearly states that they will not include sites due to any of the following reasons.
- Websites with low traffic volume below our threshold
- Websites that don’t wish to be indexed by Google and have indicated their preference through a robots.txt exclusion file
- Websites that don’t adhere to our Quality Guidelines
- Other websites for miscellaneous reasons
Google Panda affected sites can be affected by any of these criteria, but the most common reason would be low traffic volume. It is possible that Panda affected sites may be classified according to the third criteria where sites don’t adhere to quality guidelines (but it’s just my assumption). I followed the Google website trends for some websites hit by Google Panda which have now stopped appearing in website trends.
Has your site been hit by Google Panda? What is your website Google trends look like – post your link.