Chadrack
Did you know Google recently effected another algorithm change?
Did you care to know what the change is all about and how it can affect you as a blogger?
Ok, I know that many bloggers don't really care about search engine optimization (SEO) and of those who care, most consider google as too over bearing on such matters. To them Google is simply a dictator when it comes to search engine marketing.
In fact, I'm sure if those who consider Google as a dictator will have their way, they will be on the cyber streets protesting the over bearing nature of Google just as it's happening in North Africa right now! 🙂
But the truth is, no matter what you may think, we must give it to google for their effort to sanitize the Information Super High Way.
To better appreciate the stand of Google as regards these constant changes which always impact negetively in the rankings of most websites, you will need to read the official Google blog announcing the recent algorithm changes. Simply, the purpose as stated by Amit Singhal, Google Fellow, and Matt Cutts, Principal Engineer on the Official Google Blog is:
To give people the most relevant answers to their queries as quickly as possible. This requires constant tuning of our algorithms, as new content—both good and bad—comes online all the time.
Considered carefully, we must agree with google that these changes are definitely neccessary. You'll agree that if google has not from time to time effected changes like this, the value of information published on most websites would have fallen below worthless!
But Do These Changes Really Matter To Bloggers?
When I first learnt of the new algorithm changes a few days ago I was concerned for the simply fact that most of my blogs and niche sites depends essentially on organic search traffic.
And I believe that if your blog is deriving much of its traffic from the search engines then you should be concerned also. Of course, the recent algorithm change is mostly in the US but it's not out of place to prepare your sites now even if you're not in the US. Very soon the changes will be propagated to other country-specific Google sites like google.co.in, google.com.ng and google.co.uk and if you're not prepared then you'll find yourself in the cyber dust!
A Look At What This Recent Google Algorithm Change Is About
Having gone through the Official Google Blog, I was able to pick out some salient points that matters as regards this new change. Here's another quote from the blog:
Many of the changes we make are so subtle that very few people notice them. But in the last day or so we launched a pretty big algorithmic improvement to our ranking—a change that noticeably impacts 11.8% of our queries—and we wanted to let people know what’s going on. This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on…
I'm sure you can readily pick out what matters in that statement. The purpose is in two parts:
1. To Reduce Rankings For Low Quality Sites
These are what many people has refered to as content farm sites. Most of them are nothing but worthless aggregated content. Most times these sites simply copy content from other sites without really adding any value. Auto-generated content sites comes to mind here.
But, they are not alone. I'm sure sites that publish articles that are retweaked using article re-writing software may also be affected. This blog post by EzineArticles.com definitely points to that fact:
This past Thursday, Google announced an algorithm change to 11.8% of their U.S. search query results. Their target was aimed at content farms that are typically low-quality sites, sites with only copied content and sites with low value content.
While we adamantly disagree with anyone who places the “Content Farm” label on EzineArticles.com, we were not immune to this algorithm change. Traffic was down 11.5% on Thursday and over 35% on Friday. In our life-to-date, this is the single most significant reduction in market trust we’ve experienced from Google.
I'm sure youll agree with me that EzineArticles is one of the leading article directory on the net right now and that they are very strict when it comes to the type of article published on the site. But did you noticed that this google algorithm change has affected the site so much that Chris Knight, CEO of EzineArticles.com says, “In our life-to-date, this is the single most significant reduction in market trust we’ve experienced from Google.”
And because of these changes, EzineArticles.com is introducing some very serious changes to the type of articles any one can submit to the site! One of the drastic measures the site is thinking of implementing is removing “dofollow” even from the author's resource box because they realize many people submit articles to the site simply to gain backlinks.
Now don't you think that is a lesson for those of us who have “dofollow” blogs and accept guest postings?
2. To Provide Better Rankings For High-Quality Sites
This is the second purpose of the algorithm change. And this is where you'd want to be! 🙂 Seriously!
So if you're want to take advantage of these new changes what should you be doing?
The answer is provided for us right there on the official announcent. Here it is again:
At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.
A look at the statement tells you what you should concentrate on if you want to make an impact as far as the google search engine is concerned. And please note that apart from these recent changes, google says more will be coming in the days ahead! And who knows other search engines may just be joining the dance!
Frankly, I see a revolutionary change in the internet marketing cycles because this is where most of these recycled content are mostly found. That of course is good for the internet or don't you think so?
So it's time to look and plan ahead now. Don't let the almighty Google give you a slap that you'll never be able to wake up from. Think that google is only targeting content farms and not blogger like you? Then read what the regrets of this blogger here.
Over to you: What do think of this algorithm change? Do you support google with the changes? If yes can you suggest some other areas they can affect more changes? If no, what are your reasons?
Hello Chadrack,
Congratulations on a very well written article about a topic important to all online publishers. I’d been disappointed for some time now with the search results from Google, but I didn’t know that they were actually doing something about it. Thanks for the update. I’ll be sure to check back to see if you have some more news.
Hi Russell,
I personally praise Google for what they doing right now about their search engine. It’s unfortunate that many online marketers are always coming up with black hat tactics to game the search engines which is not good for the end users. When you use the search engines you expect to see info that will help you and not most of what is out there right now. We must support Google with this.
Thanks for visiting and joining the conversation!
I never worried, nor do I ever plan to worry about Google changes.
Do things right, don’t get too clever or sneaky, and you’ll never have to worry either. 😉
Besides, as with anything, why worry? If yer gonna get hit, yer gonna get hit. lol
That’s exactly what it should be. There are actually some fundamentals that once implemented you don’t have to worry about what google is doing or will do tomorrow.
Unfortunately, in trying to punish the content farms, google has harmmered many this time without looking back. This is the more reason why everyone need to be on the look out so you don’t get hit!
This is part of my point, be on the lookout for what? What exactly can you do about it?
I dont mind that Google is changing this. The thing is, if they ever overreach with the results they provide, people will go somewhere else. Just consider how great MySpace was at one time, until facebook came around. If they dont do things right, they will be replace.
Hi Edward, I really don’t understand what you mean by “if they ever overreach with the results they provide.”
I think what google is trying to do is something we should commend them for. Are you not pained by the results you get some times when you search for some information and the page that comes up top does not offer anything but some regurgitated content?
Google is really trying to make the search engine results much better and for this I think they will get more attention.
I see so many plugins for WordPress promoting their SEO services, but having tried a few I have kind of lost heart.
I do as much simple SEO as I can myself, without editing huge amount of code, as often I only have to do it again when WordPress or my theme is updated 😛
Good article Chadrack 🙂
That indeed is a good idea. Frankly, I think if you will only know the basics of seo and implement that on your blog you can really do well in the search engines. I’ll only advice going for seo services if you have different sites in different niches and you don’t have the time to work on the seo tactics.
However, if you think seo services will be of great help to you then ensure that you learn a few things from what they are doing so that can implement those yourself instead of leaving everything in the hands of those seo “experts!”
Google’s overhaul has been talked to death among bloggers and online marketers everywhere, which shows just how much power Google has in determining (influencing?) everything from the html format of our sites to every SEO’d word in our posts.
Real organic traffic takes a long time to build, period. The shortcuts won’t work, and for the content farms it’s like turning on the lights and watching the roaches scatter.
For everyone else, Google seems to see the other casualties of their algorithm change like collateral damage.
Delena
of course google indeed have much powers when it comes to marketing online. That’s why whenever they sneeze the whole of cyber space quakes! 🙂
I quite agree with you that shortcuts won’t work. I think google is continuously working to ensure that the way our content is ranked in the search engines agrees much more with our human way of filling records. This is what LSI is all about. So trying to game the search engines really does not work, at least in the long run.
“When they sneeze, the whole of cyberspace quakes.” Wow, I completely am in love with that quote! And you’re absolutely right, of course.
I was on HARO (Help a Reporter Out) to send a query out to small business owners about how they had been affected by the new algorithm. It was AMAZING. Within ten hours I had nearly thirty replies of people wanting to either share their point of view, or to tell me about how their business had gotten swept up as collateral damage in the newest change.
Cyberspace quakes? And trembles, and jitters, and shudders, and cries! lol
Delena
That simply is the power of google on the internet. Some how some way, they determine much of what happens on the internet!
The upshot is that sites which have created original content will be more likely to gain search exposure for that content than someone else who has copied it. What is a big deal is that the change means if your site contains duplicate content you are going to be penalized and ranked lower in the search engine results. While carrying some duplicate content is inevitable for instance if I quoted Matt Cutts comment on the algorithm change . we re evaluating multiple changes that should help drive spam levels even lower including one change that primarily affects sites that copy others content and sites with low levels of original content. .This is effectively duplicate content! The difference between the odd quote and full-scale replication is a question of judgment but there is a basic principle for webmasters to follow here make sure your content is as close to 100 original as it is possible to make it and never plagiarize other sites content..Content Originality versus Quality.I ve written on website issues recently dealing with how you are providing content for two sets of readers the search engine algorithms and for human beings.
Hi Louis, this is why I love what google is doing with this new algorithm change. It’s time to sanitize the web!
Thanks for the comment.
The overhaul is designed to lower the rankings of what Google deems low-quality sites…That could be a veiled reference to such sites as Demand Medias eHow.com which critics call online content farms that is sites producing cheap abundant mostly useless content that ranks high in search results………..Sites that produce original content or information that Google considers valuable are supposed to rank higher under the new system…The change announced late Thursday affects about 12 percent or nearly one in every eight search requests in the U.S. The company tweaks its search algorithms or formulas hundreds of times a year but most of the changes are so subtle that few people notice them.
these changes that Google has done have been discussed by a lot of bloggers and even online marketers. but for me, as long as you do things right, there’s really nothing to worry about.
@greg camp,
That indeed is the truth. Do what is right and you will recieve the right result. But why are lots of bloggers writing about these things? Because when google makes a statement everyone wants to listen!