I’ve made piece with the Panov on the black side by understanding principles of an Isolated queen pawn game. Basic principles for White: e- and c-files are open and should get occupied by rooks; support the advance of the d-pawn with minor pieces; while black redirects the forces to block the advance, prepare a king side attack; avoid exchanges when possible.

For Black: Plant a knight on d5 to block the advance; force exchange of pieces when possible; expose the weakness of the IQP in the end game; make use of a pawn majority once you capture it.

So in reference to the activity versus structure; White’s game is a little freer as a result allowing him some flexibility : two main themes 1) advancing the d-pawn to get rid of the “burden”  ( but act as a central battering ram) and 2) launch a King side attack with the knight and queen followed by a rook lift.   Black’s game is solid defense but should assert himself through aggressively attempting exchanges. The theme for black should be Block first, then confront the open files and diagonals.

In the C-K, people who play the Panov  are hoping this is black’s weakest link of preparation. I see it a lot at the club because most (anti) C-K books speak highly of this game.  White will also attempt to lay an IQP on you as well, I tend to avoid those lines and support d5 with Nf6, e6 etc. I don’t worry about getting the QB out of the pen. My first priority is supporting d5.  Once you come to terms with playing  ( on both sides) an IQP, you will have better grounding of this rather tame barking Chihuahua.  

I have been slowly working on learning the Panov-Botvinnik attack as white. What do you think of it as black? My thought is that it is not the type of game most Caro-Kann players are looking for from their opening. Also, my results in the advance variation have not been good (at least in blitz).