RetailMeNot is see its stock get hit hard by the recent Google algorithm change.

Barry Schwartz wrote on Search Engine Land:

On Tuesday, Google pushed out their revised Panda Algorithm code-named Panda 4.0. Panda is designed to remove low-quality content from Google’s search results. Yesterday, we published an early Winners & Losers report on which large sites were impacted the most both in a positive and negative way.

RetailMeNot was one of the larger sites on the losers list, where Searchmetrics reported an approximate 33% loss in organic search visibility after Panda 4.0 was released. RetailMeNot was quick to issue a statement responding to these reports saying they “greatly overstate the impact on RetailMeNot.com.”

The company statement released this morning reads:

The company believes these reports greatly overstate the impact on RetailMeNot.com. Over RetailMeNot’s history, search engines have periodically implemented algorithm changes that have caused traffic to fluctuate. It is too early to judge any potential impact of the latest Google algorithm change. While RetailMeNot’s traffic with Google continues to grow year-over-year, the company has experienced some shift in rankings and traffic. The company continues to believe its focus on content quality and user experience will continue to help grow the business, enable consumers to save money and drive retailer sales.

Read the full story here

The stock which trades under the symbol SALE, was down close to 19 % on Thursday.

Bloomberg covered the story :

Google Inc. (GOOG) is trying to push out spammy sites from its search results, and RetailMeNot Inc.’s stock is paying the price.

RetailMeNot shares plunged a record 19 percent today after a report said that recent changes in Google’s search algorithm made results leading to the Web couponer 33 percent less visible. Searchmetrics, a provider of digital-marketing software, wrote a list of the winners and losers, with RetailMeNot as one of the biggest losers.

“These reports greatly overstate the impact on RetailMeNot.com,” the Austin, Texas-based company said in a statement today about the changes. “Over RetailMeNot’s history, search engines have periodically implemented algorithm changes that have caused traffic to fluctuate. It is too early to judge any potential impact of the latest Google algorithm change.”

Whether or not the threat is real, the plunge in RetailMeNot (SALE)’s shares underscores the control Google has over Internet traffic and the risks faced by companies that rely on the search engine for users. Google captured 68 percent of U.S. search queries in March, more than triple the market share for Microsoft Corp., according to ComScore Inc.

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This shows once again that if a business relies on Google or even if it is perceived to rely on Google, that things can go down hill fast with one little change from the engineers in Mountain View.