Google Says Goodbye To Content Farms
Over the past two weeks Google has really been making big news and cleaning up their search results. First we heard all about the debacle of J.C. Penney from the NY Times for not playing well online and using too many black hat SEO techniques to even list. Some of the topics that they used to rank #1 on now are not even found in the first ten pages of search content. Clearly, Google will not tolerate people trying to cheat the system and has no problem acting with authority they possess when needed.
New Social Search Results
Then last week they announced major changes in social search results in Google. No longer will the results just show up at the bottom of the page, but they will now be ranked into regular results along with organic traffic. This means that social media platforms like Twitter are even more valuable to your business. I just did a test to see how this affected my results while logged into my Google account. As many of you know, we built custom WordPress Sites, so when I did a recent search, there was the link to our site sitting at #3 in the results. Granted, my results there might be slightly skewed as I am the owner of the social media accounts, logged in, and in the same geolocation, but when I checked with a friend on the other side of the country, I was #6 there. So, if you aren’t yet using social networks, START NOW!
Following these two big headlines from Google over the past 2 weeks came another HUGE announcement today. Google has declared war on the content farmers. Content farms are websites that simply pull content off of other websites and publish it out as their own. They are also sites that have thousands of pages of random content about absolutely nothing of value at all. People have built these sites because in the past the massive amounts of pages of content would rank well and help them to generate some good income through ads running on the sidebar and people clicking on links within to affiliate programs.
New Content Farm Free Search Results
But, Google has recognized that these sites are not worthy of such well placement in the SERP’s and have started to take action accordingly. This means that sites that have a blog attached where users are generating their own unique content to their own site are going to start to see better ranking results. I noticed that already I have seen big jumps by some of my keywords. For example, that same term, Custom WordPress Sites, when I search it in a cache cleared browser not logged into Google, it used to rank on page two of Google. Now I have moved onto the first page of Google and am sitting at number 6.
This once again places a greater importance on blogging and writing new fresh content for your site regularly. If you are not creating new unique content for your site on a regular basis you will probably find yourself dropping down into the abyss of results with the content farmers, black hat SEO users, and plain old spammers. Develop a writing strategy, get a plan in place and start. If you don’t think you can find ideas to write about regularly, there are services to help with blog topics from really great bloggers. Saying you don’t know what to write about is an excuse that can no longer be tolerated.
From my perspective, I am really happy with these recent changes from Google and am excited to see how this will affect online businesses as things move forward. If your business isn’t as successful as you want it to be online, it might be time for a change.
Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors
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This is great news about the content farms. If I take the time to put a blog post with original content I expect to get a higher ranking then someone who just copies and pastes.
Bravo Google, it is about time!
First, J.C. Penny – what were you thinking? It’s not as if you were some small fish trying to make your way – you’re a giant and could have done it the right way.
Second, I am thrilled about the attack on content farms. Even with pingbacks I am very careful who I allow to ping me – those ad laden sites are garbage and I will not attach myself to junk like that. Here’s to having that pay off.
I have a blog in my area that all it does is post excerpts from optimistic sources and they are number one of the keywords I would love to out rank. I am not so optimistic that the new algos would debunk them or penalize them. They have age on their side, a loyal following, and a following that discusses the topic through comments. Only time will tell.
I was thrilled when I first heard about this! I’ve also seen a rise in my traffic, but nothing monumental just yet. I’m always a little nervous when the rules change, but this difference is very welcome!
I’m not so much afraid of writing content as I am afraid that the content isn’t good, if that makes sense.
Also, will social connections that I have with people rank higher on my results page on my computer? Does that make sense? For instance, if I searched for “florists in Columbus, Ohio” will the top results be from people with whom I am connected, say on Facebook who happen to be a florist in Columbus, Ohio? It’s late and I’m confusing myself :0)
Jeremy, do you think there is a risk that agents using indexable IDX services like Diverse Solution’s IDXpress could be classified as content farms?
NAR put together the Realtor Content Resource were agents can garb articles for their personal websites and blogs. There’s usually a restriction on how much of the content you can publish before you have to link back to the original source. I was always wary of whether or not I should use this material. When Google cracks the whip, I suspect some people will make adjustments and some people will continue to do business as normal. There’s just too much web for google to police and probably more people looking for ways to circumvent the system and find the loopholes.