SOLUTIONS after google " farmer " update

[Nick Flame]

Hi,

As most of you probably know, google made a huge algorithm change called the farmer update, targeting mainly content farms and article directories.

I am not going to list here which articles directories lost - there are plenty of other threads discussing this - or complain about that.

I am here to offer some solutions - just my personal opinion, please feel free to chip in.

Website solutions

The rise of mini niches websites, rip autoblogs, rip article directories

Dropping big content farms in serps left room for plenty competitive keywords, that will be filled by micro niche website. Google does not seem to favor the reign of one website covering all subjects with duplicate content, not to mention the autoblogs, so new micro niche websites themed around a certain subject will rise.

TIPS

1.Make sure you have original content on them!

2. Use a progressive model publishing content on the websites.

Do NOT post all your articles on a micro niche website AT ONCE. You think it's natural for a website to post 30 articles with no backlinks to them.. and then after a while... thousand of links will follow to them by magic?

Post 3-4 articles, start link building, after 2 weeks, post another 2-3 articles covering more keywords, again link building, then later post more articles, and more links.

3. Because of this progressive model of publishing that forces you to add more keywords and more articles in time, pay attention to choosing a large enough micro niche.

If you choose a niche with 1000-2000 exact searches per month - like most courses here recommend - you will be stuck after adding about 5-10 articles, as you will not have what keywords to cover any more. Do you really want a website, that its potential is maxed out at 100$ per month? Go for a little bigger niche. Usually the main keyword, should have at least 10,000 exact searches per month.

There is a cost in time and effort associated with registering domains, with installing, with updating themes and plugins for each website, with testing ads placement, and affiliate products to recommend. And that cost is pretty much the same if you build a 100$ per month website, or a 500$ per month one.

Backlinks Solutions

Article directories dropped in rankings ---> the value of their links dropped in value as well. Do not be fooled by people telling you that article marketing is as efficient as before, cause they did not see drop in rankings. They did not see yet, because it takes time for google to start discounting thouse links, but be sure that they will.

This is blackhatworld, you have to be one step ahead of google and normal seos, and the step ahead now is to realize that article marketing as a backlinking solution just lost a big part of its effectiveness.

The big problem with article directories is that they allow their content to be redistributed -- > therefore creating plenty of duplicate content on the web. And google does not like that.

Even if you submit an original article to ezine articles , ezine articles TOS let's other people copy that content and post it on their website.

In the past, this was an advantage because you received more backlinks from various sources.

But now, it's not that good a thing any more. Thousand of backlinks from identical content pages, do not seem to rock the serp any more.

I think the future here is GUEST POSTING and proliferation of QUALITY BLOG NETWORKS.

I think the solution is to try to build links from websites that do NOT allow their content to be reposted on the web. They are more valuable in my testing, and their value is increasing after this update. I think that guest posting networks, or blog networks that allow only original content are the best backlinking solutions at the moment, better than classical article marketing.

With guest posting and blog networks, your article with links, usually will stay for at least a day on the homepage of the high pr blog which never happened with article directories, your link would virtually never reach their high pr home page.

Also, the permanent links coming from a blog post that is unique, it's more valuable than a link coming from an article in a directory, that has been reposted hundreds of time on the web.

I envision a guest posting backlink solution that will work like this:

Blog owners, having high quality websites, will post in a marketplace the titles of articles the want on their website. Like i need an article with the keywords: :" how to make money online" , minim 400 words, etc.

The backlink seeker, will come, will take the keyword and write a quality article according to the min specs of the blog owner. And at the end, will have 2 links to his website.

The blog owner, will post the article for free.. since it's high quality good content for him, exactly like he wanted, including keywords and length.

The backlink seeker will get a blog post for free on a very valuable blog (usually it costs at least 15-20$ ONE blogpost on a good PR 4 blog. I mean good, not the kind of shit usually people sell for 30$.. 500 pr 4 blogs or etc..).

If someone knows such a network, let me know. If someone wants to build it, i may help.

Chip in with your opinions on the future of seo.

 

[charlie3]

That all sounds like some really good information and it seems that SEO is taking a turn (for the worse or better, that's in debate), but I'm wondering about short term IM.

Say I don't want to invest in building a whole new site, but more like writing an article or creating a squidoo lens to get some quick affiliate sales. Is that still possible or is the only way to create a 100% unique website?

I have no problem with creating a whole new website and I actually like this update because it's creating a cleaner internet that has been filled with spam, but are the days of short term IM over? Is Internet Marketing only for those who plan to invest their full time rather than part time?

Because it seems like Squidoo lenses and articles from Ezine aren't going to fly with google anymore. My point may be a little blurry to some, but I hope you get the idea that I have no problem working harder, I'm just wondering about this.

Thanks

 

[Rob Whisonant]

I can tell you from experience that quality networks work great when used they way you described. I built out my own network of sites some time ago just for the purpose of getting my own quality backlinks.

I actually used more than just blogs in the network. Have a mix of static, blog, forum, article, link lists etc in it.

I'm highly considering trading post for post with webmasters who have built out their own networks in the near future.

One thing I would consider is to limit the number of new posts, pages or other elements that can be added per day. You also may want to consider deleting older content when the time comes to keep your network from becoming a content farm. This method also keeps it fresh.

 

[moneyspinner]

I am just reserving my place for comment. I will definitely make some good contribution here.

 

[thetvnun]

i dont know why, but sescout shows i gained 250 in serps across 5 sites. 5 auto-populated sites. bringing them from page 5-7 to page 1-3. wtf? its the biggest gain ive ever had in a single day. wonder how long it will last . . .

 

[frenchboy]

I agree with most of what you said, especially that guest posting is key. However, so far I do not think article directories will lose backlinking "strength". They lost ranking ability, but I do not think they lost power... However many the new PR update will prove me wrong. I mean, if you have a PR4 website even if it does not rank for any keywords a link from it will definitely help you and many people buy aged domains with PR even if they do not rank for anything just to get a strong backlink.

 

[beazt]

Article Marketing is never used only as a source of backlinking. They are used for both backlinking and traffic. For instance, if you submit an article to EZA, you get a link from PR 6 website. However, one of the factors considered by Search Engines in calculating the value of backlinks is the IP diversity.

Hence, if you then submit 100 more articles to EZA in the hope of getting link juice then that may not be the case, as all of them would be coming from the same IP address, hence search engines will devalue them.

Guest Blogging looks like a good alternative to Article syndication at the moment. However, there are other methods of creating backlinks that are even more effective- for example- authority links, High PR, ******** links, same niche links and so on.

Affiliate marketers would now have to look out for other methods of traffic generation and link building, such as Social media marketing, PPC etc. Bum marketing would not be as effective as before.

P.S. It is interesting to note that when all other content aggregator sites were going down in terms of both traffic and ranking, E-How actually showed improvements. It is also known fact that the quality of content at E-How is far better than for example the content at Ezine Articles. This shows that quality content would continue to rank.

@Nick Flame: Yet another quality post, this is why I follow all of your threads in the forum.

 

[killer2021]

Nice post and I agree entirely.

It looks like going forward google is going to start policing bad domains. If they think your site is autoblog they'll just ban the entire domain from google. Likewise, they'll ban your adsense account as well. So if you are doing shady stuff then its going to get much harder.

So as a result, we all have to bump up our game. The guest posting and micro niche blog networks are going to be key to this. The idea is to make your blog networks look legit. If google thinks your content is genuine and you are linking to other sites because they are good then google has no problem with this, in fact they encourage it. However, if google detects that you are doing lots of odd ball stuff (linking to shady places, duplicate content etc.) then google will happily ban you from the serps.

Also, it seems like google will probably be hiring people to police the serps. So if these human serp police go to your site and they notice it is shady then they will ban. Going forward its going to be about quality, quality, quality. In the past you could get away with shady practices as long as you beat the algos but going forward you'll have to beat google's human serp police as well.

Going forward, private micro niche blogging communities will be key.

 

[Shownuff]

As it concerns Eza, the quick buck guys will probaly move one. Almost anyone can write a 250 article without trying. The 400 word thresh hold has changed that landscape. Lazy people don't want to constantly come up with 400 words when all they want is that quick cb sale.

And now, if they are smart, the article writers will and should raise their prices for ghost writing. One site in particular xomba is not showing those product review type articles anymore. I use to post a lot of amazon review articles on that site because it got indexed so fast. Take a look now and it seems most the blatant Im'ers have been banished.

But do you guys think now blogger will see a rise since it's part of the google family ?

 

[Nick Flame]

But do you guys think now blogger will see a rise since it's part of the google family ?

Google does NOT make any money on blogger, compared with the billions they make on the search engine, so there is no way they will risk their search engine quality for blogger - blogger is pretty much dead to them, no premium accounts there, no revenue sharing.

Youtube on the other hand, had a massive improvement in this update.

P.S. It is interesting to note that when all other content aggregator sites were going down in terms of both traffic and ranking, E-How actually showed improvements. It is also known fact that the quality of content at E-How is far better than for example the content at Ezine Articles. This shows that quality content would continue to rank.

ehow has copyright on the content. You are not going to find their content being distributed all over the web, like the ezine articles. Big plus for them.

Not anyone can publish on ehow compared with virtually anyone publishing on ezine articles. Another big plus on them.

Makes sense that they would rank better than ezine articles, although i would not call their content quality. But it's unique and it's at least readable, so that works for them.

 

[littlewebdragon]

I'm not so "old" here, but I'm running some tests on my own, and I just want to become subscribed to this thread in order to post progress.

Quick money making will still be alive, as if you can build fast enough and get some links fast enough, you will have enough time to go "in and out" of G but with money in your pocket and move on...

 

[Haspel]

I couldn't agree more all my mini niche sites have experienced a great improvement in the serps for the past two weeks.With every change that Google makes a new opportunity arises. Sure article directories took a big hit but there are plenty of other good properties that you can use to rank high. Iv done some tests in the past few days and from what I noticed videos(youtube),image hosting sites(flickr) ,social pages(facebook and twitter), classifieds(olx,backpage,cl) and Q&A sites are ranking pretty high now. So there are plenty of new properties to choose from

 

[KeyzDT]

Youtube on the other hand, had a massive improvement in this update.

Could you be more specific?

 

[JesusBack]

Yeah it just looks like we gotta slightly more whitehat. Drop article directories down to layer 2 of your backlinks and keep unique content always on the top layer from sites like associated content. If you simply love the blackhat game then go for wpmu sites and spinned content, just make sure the domains are slightly aged and are in this format
Site.com/myblog
As opposed to a subdomain for article backlinks (or use unique content).

 

[beaglejuice]

Hi Nick,

I beg to disagree. Google makes millions out of the millions of bloggers who can't meet their payment threshold. I could only imagine the additional income they get from their partnership with amazon. Google is keeping all those revenues.

I also believe that there was really no algorithm change. All they did was implement strongly the rule of "no duplicate content". They've been soft on that rule but after seeing that "content farms" with "keyword rich" content, and "backlink rich" sites can dominate serp ratings to the detriment on their "adwords" income, something drastic has to be implemented.

IMHO, with Google's emphasis on rating sites highly that are shared on social networks, I can only surmise that Google is looking for active and dynamic sites...eg. retweets, refacebook, reidenti, remyspace, etc...The old, ancient, and proven REFERRAL system still rules.

Google does NOT make any money on blogger, compared with the billions they make on the search engine, so there is no way they will risk their search engine quality for blogger - blogger is pretty much dead to them, no premium accounts there, no revenue sharing.

Youtube on the other hand, had a massive improvement in this update.



ehow has copyright on the content. You are not going to find their content being distributed all over the web, like the ezine articles. Big plus for them.

Not anyone can publish on ehow compared with virtually anyone publishing on ezine articles. Another big plus on them.

Makes sense that they would rank better than ezine articles, although i would not call their content quality. But it's unique and it's at least readable, so that works for them.

 

[Nick Flame]

Hi Nick,

I beg to disagree. Google makes millions out of the millions of bloggers who can't meet their payment threshold. Google is keeping all those revenues.

No, google is not keeping those revenue. If you want to get out of the google adsense program and close your account, they will send you the money even if it's under the 100$ threshold limit.

If you do not get out of the program, they will keep their money there, and when you reach 100$ they will pay you - regardless if that happens after 10 year or later.

I do not see where google makes those millions. If an user did not close his adsense account, google can't touch those money, cause he may reach the threshold in the future and they will have to pay him. If he closed and did not reach the threshold, they send him all the money owed regardless.

Also, not all blogger blogs use adsense or amazon on them. Some might use other affiliated programs not connected at all with google. Blogger is insignificant for google as revenue generating source, i am pretty sure.

I also believe that there was really no algorithm change.

They announced on their official blog that it's an algorithm change, and all external analysis by top seo in the world confirmed it.

All they did was implement strongly the rule of "no duplicate content"..

Implementing a new rule is an algorithm change as far as i see it.

 

[Nick Flame]

Could you be more specific?

If you look at the statistical data mined from the web after this algo update - there are plenty of seos who posted their own analyses showing which sites won and which sites lost- , overall youtube received a boost in rankings, the same way ezine article received a downgrade.

I also own a lot of youtube videos - tens of thousands - and saw a massive increase in traffic on them - although my example is probably pretty insignificant.

 

[unknownassailant]

Thanks for a thoughtful post. There is intelligent life in the universe.

 

[KeyzDT]

If you look at the statistical data mined from the web after this algo update - there are plenty of seos who posted their own analyses showing which sites won and which sites lost- , overall youtube received a boost in rankings, the same way ezine article received a downgrade.

I also own a lot of youtube videos - tens of thousands - and saw a massive increase in traffic on them - although my example is probably pretty insignificant.

thanks. sounds like its time to focus on video marketing through YT. Up until now FB and twitter have been my favs.

 

[dannyhw]

I always say if you're actually spending time or money developing good content, why waste it on article directories? Even before this update you were better off guest blogging.

The only problem with guest blogging as it is now is that you actually have to have a site that the blog owner will be willing to link to. I don't see it working with a sales page for some stupid affiliate program, unless all the shitty site owners just trade posts with each other.