Content Can Do More Harm Then Good

[SEOBS]

I setup about 30 buffer domains lately but we had some issue's that caused the content to be posted after the links were build to rank them.

Funny enough 10 out of those 30 sites dropped in rankings after the content was posted.

In other words it ranked better with an empty Wordpress installation then with an 800 word high relevant article posted (keyword density <1%) from a cheap writer.

All the domains are EMD's

 

[ficfroc]

I setup about 30 buffer domains lately but we had some issue's that caused the content to be posted after the links were build to rank them.

Funny enough 10 out of those 30 sites dropped in rankings after the content was posted.

In other words it ranked better with an empty Wordpress installation then with an 800 word high relevant article posted (keyword density <1%) from a cheap writer.

All the domains are EMD's

YOu mean than when you first created the link, the buffer domains were absolutely emply ?? what happened to the linked moneysite did it drop aswell ?

 

[jethro]

"cheap writer"?

Is it good content? Is it readable? Is it unique-high quality?

 

[Reyone]

Well, it'd be pretty stupid to use shitty content on your money site... You want to use outstanding content and nothing else.

Unless it is a churn and burn site ofc...

 

[SEOBS]

YOu mean than when you first created the link, the buffer domains were absolutely emply ?? what happened to the linked moneysite did it drop aswell ?

Yes the domains had a default WP installation when the links were build, about 2 weeks later the content was posted, and now 3-4 days later rankings dropped on a number of sites.

Money sites didn't drop, I think it's too early, did see a few sites that experienced a fairly large drop since Panda 4.0 and those rank again for the keywords, but that could just be short term fluctuations, need to wait longer.

 

[SEOBS]

"cheap writer"?

Is it good content? Is it readable? Is it unique-high quality?

It's readable and 100% unique, absolutely NOT spun.

I just read over a few of the articles and actually they are pretty solid without grammar or spelling issue's.

Maybe Google doesn't like the 404 errors that are created as the empty WP installation resulted in 5 indexed pages from Hello Word, Sample Post, Uncategorized and some author/date crap which is now either noindexed or removed and thus they return a 404 error and if you leave it up to Google it takes ages before they get removed.

 

[SEOBS]

Well, it'd be pretty stupid to use shitty content on your money site... You want to use outstanding content and nothing else.

Unless it is a churn and burn site ofc...

It would be pretty stupid to not understand a post of just 4 sentences, unless you don't understand what the word "buffer" means.

 

[bartosimpsonio]

So you probably believed Matt Cutts when he said content is king

When folks say "don't listen to him", they're not kidding.

 

[SEOBS]

So you probably believed Matt Cutts when he said content is king

When folks say "don't listen to him", they're not kidding.

You have to be pretty careful with what you post yes.

I experienced it a year ago with some crappy question and answer site that I setup, it had like 30 random questions, or in other words 30 random articles of 500 words.

Used to rank at #4 for the main EMD keyword, then I accidentally deleted my site and setup a quick empty WP but had no time to re-post the content.

The site instantly moved up to #1 and stayed there for a long time, outranking huge (irrelevant) authority sites where it showed the FAQ page from.

Later on I appearantly had my VA's post the content again (as I see the site is live again) and it's back at #4.

 

[SEOBS]

I think it especially works like this with EMD's.

After all an empty EMD is 100% relevant to your main keyword.

Each other word that you add to the page/site kills the relevancy of it.

Maybe we have to rank empty EMD's to have an advantage and cloak the traffic elsewhere

 

[bartosimpsonio]

You have to be pretty careful with what you post yes.

I experienced it a year ago with some crappy question and answer site that I setup, it had like 30 random questions, or in other words 30 random articles of 500 words.

Used to rank at #4 for the main EMD keyword, then I accidentally deleted my site and setup a quick empty WP but had no time to re-post the content.

The site instantly moved up to #1 and stayed there for a long time, outranking huge (irrelevant) authority sites where it showed the FAQ page from.

Later on I appearantly had my VA's post the content again (as I see the site is live again) and it's back at #4.

That's a great example. Also, lately, if you watch high paying keywords, you see 100% crap sites shoot up to #1 all the time, stay there 2 to 3 weeks, then go. Whoever does it is probably laughing all the way to the bank. And all that BS and FUD spread by Google aren't doing anything for the "100% honest folks" who write content. They get screwed all the time.

It's all about money. Adwords, adsense, stockholder value - that's all there is to it. Think like a Google stockholder and you'll do fine.

 

[SEOBS]

That's a great example. Also, lately, if you watch high paying keywords, you see 100% crap sites shoot up to #1 all the time, stay there 2 to 3 weeks, then go. Whoever does it is probably laughing all the way to the bank. And all that BS and FUD spread by Google aren't doing anything for the "100% honest folks" who write content. They get screwed all the time.

It's all about money. Adwords, adsense, stockholder value - that's all there is to it. Think like a Google stockholder and you'll do fine.

It seems to work for tiny 1 page site.

However if you have a site that you want to rank for many terms, with many pages, it becomes a bit of a different story as then you get penalized for having too many thin pages.

Ridiculous ain't it, ranking like crazy for an empty 1 page site, and getting penalized for a site with 100 pages that each contain like 10-50 words (think of eCommerce sites)

 

[twilightofidols]

I've never understood people who say "quality content" is your problem. And yet I can't find one example of how Google can identify quality content.

How can a search engine spider make such value judgements on a site? Unique content of course is much easier to identify. But quality? I mean we end up in a philosophical discussion of value here. Two humans can't even agree with quality is in many circumstances. How is Googlebot supposed to know that?

 

[SEOBS]

I've never understood people who say "quality content" is your problem. And yet I can't find one example of how Google can identify quality content.

How can a search engine spider make such value judgements on a site? Unique content of course is much easier to identify. But quality? I mean we end up in a philosophical discussion of value here. Two humans can't even agree with quality is in many circumstances. How is Googlebot supposed to know that?

When talking on IM forums about quality content you should see it from the perspective of uniqueness / correct grammar / free of spelling errors.

Obvious Google would never be able to understand valuable content.

 

[Reyone]

It would be pretty stupid to not understand a post of just 4 sentences, unless you don't understand what the word "buffer" means.

Can't help when your explanation is so vague.

"buffer" is a very random term and there are a ton of ways to apply this. If you want help, then you should edit your post explaining what is it exactly you are doing, otherwise, your 4 lines won't let people properly advice you.

If by buffer you mean sites pointing directly to your site, again, it would be pretty stupid to use shitty content in them. Unless, again, it is a churn n burn project, in which case you would want a different approach to your "buffer" strategy.

In either case, do as you will and best of luck with it and next time you are looking for help, explain your issue in depth so people can give you a hand.

/e: also, creating sites such as web 2.0s or buying domains and adding content + links from the first day is another pretty way to say "hey Google, look at my site, im trying to rank it!".

Again, you have not provided any details, so hard to give you any help (if that was what you were looking for)

 

[antichrist]

another thing I am seeing lately is sites with 60-80% exact match anchor text links pointing to their sites ranking number 1.

 

[crazedspyker]

Well, nowadays SEO seems to be more about avoiding the bad stuff than having the good.

The more information you give google, the more they have to ding you with.

In most cases, an almost empty page with no content that doesn't trip any of the filters, is going to rank better than a high quality page with tons of backlinks that happens to trip one of the filters.

Filters are most likely looking for combinations of factors, rather than a single thing.

 

[SEOBS]

Can't help when your explanation is so vague.

Not asking for help, it was just a warning that content can do more harm then good, with a "vague" example added.

 

[SEOBS]

Well, nowadays SEO seems to be more about avoiding the bad stuff than having the good.

The more information you give google, the more they have to ding you with.

In most cases, an almost empty page with no content that doesn't trip any of the filters, is going to rank better than a high quality page with tons of backlinks that happens to trip one of the filters.

Filters are most likely looking for combinations of factors, rather than a single thing.

Good point, funny enough this was an empty page with back links and the content is actually pretty good despite it coming from a cheap writer.

I guess either the 404 errors have to do with it or an empty installation is more relevant (due to the EMD being used) then an article that contains a ton of irrelevant words, like any article really.

 

[SEOBS]

Also, creating sites such as web 2.0s or buying domains and adding content + links from the first day is another pretty way to say "hey Google, look at my site, im trying to rank it!

Never had any problems doing that.

I think it's perfectly normal that a brand new site gets a ton of promotion at the start and that it slowly dies off. Think of press releases, think of requested links from dealerships, think of listings at Yelp and the like, Twitter, Facebook Google+. It would be more normal to receive a ton of links right at the start then weeks or months later.

In theory it would be more strange that an empty site would rank great.