If Google was a baseball team, it would currently be celebrating three recent strikes against poor content in its bid to deliver good quality, relevant search results.
Author and search expert David Mill, of MediaCo, explains:
Strike 1 …
Changes to Google’s search algorithm were released with a particular aim to filter out sites that contained what it regarded as low quality content.
Strike 2 …
The search giant launched a Chrome extension to allow people to block sites from their web search results.
Google said: “We’ve been exploring different algorithms to detect content farms, which are sites with shallow or low-quality content. One of the signals we're exploring is explicit feedback from users.”
The extension sends blocked site information to Google to be studied with a view to using it as a potential ranking signal for search results.
Strike 3 …
The full-blown “Farmer” algorithm update was implemented in the US, with a prediction that some 12 per cent of queries would receive meaningfully different results than before.
Biggest hit were so-called content farms and scraper sites. One definition of a content farm is a website which publishes a substantial amount of low-quality content. Scraper sites pull content from outside sources rather than present original material.
Batting back …
Unfortunately, despite Google’s intentions, a substantial number of “innocent” sites in the US have seen their rankings plummet. They are now frantically trying to improve their search engine optimisation through improving their on-site content and enhancing off-site link building activity.
And, with the Farmer / Panda Update being expected to be rolled out globally very soon, the opportunity exists for site owners to act quickly and avoid penalisation.
For example, it is recommended that you:
> Ensure you have good quality, original and relevant copywriting within your web pages.
> Remove any material which is poor or has been copied from elsewhere.
> If you have an ecommerce site, it is important for you to have informational content, for example strong product descriptions, reviews, FAQs and buying guides.
> Review your link sources and seek new ones so that Google is seeing strong signals regarding the popularity and value of your offering.
> Use a “human-friendly” site and page structure which is easy to read and navigate.
In the book “Content Is King - Writing and Editing Online” David Mill, MD of the leading online marketing and copywriting agency MediaCo, wrote:
“There is much talk about search engine algorithms (the closely-guarded "recipes" that search engines use to decide how to rank the results of a given search).
“However, the CRITICAL element is not PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + ... + PR(Tn)/C(Tn)) …
… it’s the written word!”
And, in reference to the latest Google changes, Mill now adds: “Nothing really has changed. Content has always been king. It’s just that Google is trying, albeit still clumsily, to get even better at differentiating between the good and the bad.
“The people who manage websites require to deliver the correct content for their site visitors and, by doing so, they will be rewarded with strong search engine visibility, particularly if supported by off-site link references and social media mentions.”
So, three strikes don’t mean you’re out. But, to get to first base, it’s highly recommended you get active with good web copywriting and link building with immediate effect.
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source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/google/content/prweb5162924.htm
