What exactly does google panda says

I think this is a very good question - the way the so-called Panda update gets talked about, it's like some Bogeyman that allows Google to suddenly discredit all SEO efforts overnight. That is just total nonsense. You know what, honestly, I have no idea what the Panda update was about. I am tempted to think it targetted sites heavy on content that consists of:

- very short generic articles
- focused on traditionally spammy niches (Viagra, gambling)

...and that is about IT. I even wonder whether "Panda" might not have been some sort of manual tweak used to place a shot across the bows of the so-called "content farms". It certainly has people running scared, and did affect SOME sites. But what it's really all about, I don't know, and highly doubt it is the Bogeyman at all.

Google has LONG penalised 'scraped' content, but even then, if your site is popular (well backlinked etc.) that can trump this unoriginal content. I have a mashup site that takes content from different sources (ALL legit - using APIs), provides some value in doing so (though it's not stellar quality, I will admit) and which just bounced BACK after 5 months in the sin-bin for some stupid mistake I made (nothing to do with duplicate content). So where's the Panda then?!

My personal take on your questions:

- on-page SEO - no changes to speak of
- social marketing - no changes
- outbound links - NO connection with Panda
- backlinking from content farms - NO change (I am doing just fine with article directories etc.)

I say, let's forget this Panda nonsense and carry on doing what we were doing. Slow and steady wins the race.