Last week, Google began to rollout a new Panda update, this one targeting thin content on the web in its search engine results. The update should be completed sometime this week, according to Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Pierre Far. Far works for Google UK.

Far made the announcement on his Google+ page, saying the following:

“Earlier this week, we started a slow rollout of an improved Panda algorithm, and we expect to have everything done sometime next week.

Based on user (and webmaster!) feedback, we’ve been able to discover a few more signals to help Panda identify low-quality content more precisely. This results in a greater diversity of high-quality small- and medium-sized sites ranking higher, which is nice.

Depending on the locale, around 3-5% of queries are affected.”

The update was created using user and webmaster feedback and Panda will be able to detect sites with low-quality content on them. With the new update, small and medium-sized websites are receiving better search engine results if they have high-quality content published on them, according to Search Engine Journal.

Many websites that were punished in the past by Panda updates might see the damage come undone with this update if the website updated the quality of the content, according to PerformanceIN.

Websites that have not been hit by a Panda update in the past might see a drop in traffic by the end of this week with this new update, should Google detect low-quality content on those sites.

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Panda launched in February of 2011, less than four years ago, and has already seen 26 updates. This latest update will mark the 27th of Panda’s brief existence.

In the early going, there looked to be roughly 12 percent of search queries affected by the update, by Far made sure to point out that it will be more towards the 3-5 percent range.

Some websites already taking hits from the new updated include the website for the OK! celebrity gossip magazine, the main website for Microsoft’s office365 software and Yellow.com, according to PerformanceIN.

PerformanceIN also noted some sites already seeing an increase in traffic from the update. Those sites include Webopedia.com, Savings.com, HotelGuides.com and vice.com.

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