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I have to admit that in the past my SEO strategies have been a little over-reliant on text marketing. It's tempting and simple, but it's just pure SEO.
The old method is very simple: there are many such text directory sites on the Internet. They pay a very low price to buy articles of about 300 words, usually with links in the articles. All they have to do is carefully build a trustworthy site so that when people search for the long-tail words that appear in the article, the articles on the site can appear in a higher ranking, and then earn money by people clicking on the links in the articles. .
Google’s “Farmer” algorithm update won’t end this approach, but it will certainly change it profoundly. This article believes that Google will deal with large-scale content farm websites, such as Demand Media's eHow.
But some data collected by the search analytics company Systrix for the "Farmer" algorithm shows us a different picture: Although many websites have been hit, such as text marketing stalwart EzineArticles, which has a 90% reduction in traffic, and Yahoo's Associated Content has reduced more; however, many large content farm sites were not significantly affected. Although Demand's eHow declined in some numbers, it actually grew slightly.
What does targeting the "Farmer" algorithm mean for SEO?
“Farmer” means that simple text marketing has no future. You can no longer cobble together low-quality articles to get ranked. After some large content farm websites declined in rankings, they began to increase the quality requirements for articles and implement nofollow in-text links (a technology proposed by Google to improve the quality of search results). Now not only are there fewer visitors, but more money has to be invested in attracting each visitor.
Here are some SEO tips to combat the influence of “Farmer”:
Be on par with large websites. eHow currently ranks very well and has a lot of traffic. Youtube is still benefiting from the latest ranking updates. It’s not difficult to create a one-minute video that contains twenty different long keywords, and it can easily rank on the first page of searches.
Again, social media. Facebook is one of the biggest beneficiaries of this algorithm change. But more importantly, social media as a whole would benefit in a relative sense: since getting into global search results is difficult, get into streaming and news feeds. Here are some possible approaches:
1. Instead of writing a lot of general articles, it is better to use one powerful article that people are willing to RT to spread as link bait.
2. Don’t just register your company name on Facebook, try to bring a keyword with a certain amount of traffic.
3. Find the share icons your customers like and discard the others.
Start sending emails: If you can't get to the search results page and the traffic has reached your capacity, then you need to occupy the visitor's inbox
Now here’s the good news: Thanks to Google’s “Farmer” algorithm update, there’s a glut of online writers. Now that arbitraging from Google’s strong rankings is no longer possible, now is a good time to think about how to take advantage of them.
Best solution: outsource your low-value content
For marketers looking to make long-term deals, there’s another very simple option: Rather than risk Google’s algorithm, pay someone else to do it. In other words, why not leverage content-targeted ads to drive those low-quality clicks to your website?
It's hard to beat big sites like eHow in terms of technology or scale. They produce more articles than you, faster than you, save money than you, and can arrange them better than you. And they know better what people are searching for and what the search trends will be in the future.
Instead of striving to be the number one in the rankings, it is more economical to be ranked number one and pay based on the traffic received (through Adsense links). Spending money on traffic is more cost-effective than working hard for a failed ranking.
(None of this seems to be in line with the spirit of white hat SEO to build a long-term career. But try to merge it with the above strategy: get traffic through Adsense on eHow or other sites, and then turn these one-time visitors into loyal newsletters. Subscribers or Twitter followers so they can share your high-quality articles on social networks).
What should article directory webmasters do?
Article directory webmasters need to change their approach a bit. There is still room for growth in this basic business model. Independently writing some content that can be included and building a trusted website are completely different things. It is better to perform their own duties.
One way for article directory webmasters is to target a type or a certain type of visitor, write several high-quality articles themselves, and then provide others with the opportunity to add their own articles for a fee. For example, a savvy webmaster can not only create an ordinary article directory about mortgage loans, but also create his own personal finance blog and occasionally invite well-known figures in some fields to publish articles. Sites can invite well-known people to write articles for a fee, and then charge unknown people who need a place to express their opinions, or directly generate revenue through advertising.
The advantage of this route is that it is very popular with Google. It produces high-quality content and takes advantage of Google's features.
This approach also adheres to one of the golden rules of white hat SEO: optimize your site for the smart search engines of the future, because that future is already around the corner. The “Farmer” algorithm update is an affirmation of this view.
Discussion & Ideas
(+/- represents the support and opposition tendency relative to the original text)
1. -/+ Karon: I don’t agree with the so-called new age strategy based on existing content farms. The reasonable approach to text marketing is to write something that is truly useful and be recognized and spread within your industry and market segment. This is what text marketing is being recognized for all the time. On the contrary, the arrogant content farm strategy is an inefficient choice. Why waste energy on creating a large amount of short-lived content that cannot be truly disseminated, instead of articles that truly create value and allow them to continue to disseminate and increase in value over time?
2. + Pay attention to social networks, follow, RT, favorite, like, etc. On the one hand, search engines directly import real-time search content, and at the same time, they also add the weight of content updates to the algorithm, and social website communication and content updates are interrelated. .
- Zarchary:
1. After the Farmer New Deal, the author suggested that everyone turn to YouTube and Facebook. Considering that the nofollow links here do not convey weight, they have no weight and no traffic, which is a waste of effort.
2. The author recommends Facebook. When it comes to the influence of like, like can be sold wholesale like a link. How to play it.
3. The author recommends placing adsense to indirectly use text marketing directories (content ranches), but this is dangerous because you don’t know whether the articles that match your ads are credible. It is even more dangerous if you place ads for drugs, for example.
4. According to campaign data, at least 1/8 of content directory service providers are still operating normally to bring traffic and conversions after the New Deal. The 1/8 number comes from the fact that publishers select 100 out of 800 catalog merchants for example, so don’t be misled by 1/8 and underestimate the conversion. In short, content farming is still effective for long-tail keywords. As for whether the other 700 are efficient or not, that is irrelevant.
5. From a long-term perspective, white-hat long-term SEO is basically not on the same level as the existing practical text marketing from the origin, and there is no need to favor one over the other.
+ Elizabeth:
1. I agree with Karon’s idea of considering the problem fundamentally. The value of content is still the foundation of SEO, and it is also ignored by SEOers’ various tricks.
2. Zarchary overemphasized the limitations of nofollow and failed to see that the weight of the entire social network is increasing. If the traffic is there, you will be in trouble if you still use old links to pass search engine weight thinking. Think about Wikipedia, where users are active and where they have to deal with users directly.
3. Facebook likes have become an important signal indicator of article authenticity. Shopping like is indeed a problem that needs to be solved.
As for the original article's recommendation to place adsense ads based on text directory websites, it is reasonable in terms of time and efficiency. At the same time, this also makes it easier to invest the remaining time and money in long-term SEO construction.
Now, you also know some about the situation of content farms and some opinions of others. If you have any personal experience and opinions about content farms, please comment here.
Translation link: SEMWATCH.ORG (please indicate the source link when reprinting)
Original link: The New Age Of Article Marketing