There’s a newer buzzword in the Search Marketing lexicon: “Content Farming.” Unfortunately, this term has nothing to do with teaching pigs to write prose, and instead is a pejorative way of describing mass-produced articles designed solely for search engine optimization.
In short, the stereotypical content farm will hire out freelance writers for very little pay and ask them to write articles that will do well in search results. Or, a site might simply scrape (see: steal) other content from around the web and pass it off as their own. The goal becomes page bait, link juice, or advertising revenue; not necessarily quality content for the user. According to its strongest critics, articles produced through content farms are nothing more than glorified spam.
Google recently lashed out against the practice of content farming, with their “Panda Update,” changing their search algorithm in a way that alters nearly 12% of all searches. Why Panda you ask? Supposedly, it’s named after a Google engineer. But I think we all know the real reason: mess with a Panda and you get bamboozled.
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According to Google, “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.” Without actually saying it, the message from Google was clear: content farming is not going to work with our search engine.
The unfortunate misconception surrounding this change is that all content created with SEO in mind is evil. The public outcry from many journalists implies that there can be no integrity in content that aims to do well in search, or aid the search results of other sites.
The main fear surrounding content farms is that the quality of the writing will take a backseat to the effectiveness of the search optimization. This is a valid fear. Online article writing should focus on quality and providing useful content for the reader. But that does not mean an article can’t also make an effort to get noticed. It doesn’t make any sense to avoid marketing your creative content. The only content I write that I want no one to ever read is stuff from my private diary. Not that I even know what one of those would look like…
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What is acceptable high quality content?
This seems to be the crux of the Panda/Farmer debate: if Google is crushing “low-quality content” in results, then how do we know if our content is quality enough?The simplified answer is that content should provide great value to the user. Normal people should want to read or view the content you put online. Of course, doing this is easier said than done.
“We’re very excited about this new ranking improvement because we believe it’s a big step in the right direction of helping people find ever higher quality in our results,” says Google.Here are some unique ways we offer customized, quality content at L2T Media. The idea behind each practice is to create high quality material for a variety of online customers, and let the SEO follow naturally.
Custom Blog Design
Creating your own business blog is a terrific way to A) market your brand B) communicate your unique message and C) improve your search engine results. Plus, when you are frequently updating a company blog with new and original content, you are consistently providing new material your customers can use to their advantage. A blog can take a great deal of time and dedication, but the perks are numerous.Video Content Optimization
Since Google is increasing the standards for written article marketing, why not make sure you’re doing all you can with video? At L2T we work with a number of car dealerships, and some of our most successful results have come from optimized videos of new cars. Even two minutes of genuinely useful online video can work wonders for your search marketing results.E-mail Marketing
This could be a great alternative marketing strategy. Instead of letting your content get lost on the internet, you can send it right to the inboxes of your customers. The downside here is that you won’t reach new, unexpected customers, but the ones you do reach have already shown interest. Always a good thing.Online Article Marketing
Wait, what? I thought we just got done explaining how the Panda/Farmer updates made article marketing a thing of the past?Not necessarily. While the Google updates do make it harder for websites to bludgeon their way to the top with article links, this is still an available strategy. The key here, as with all your content, is to make sure the articles can stand alone as unique and useful. If they are lazily compiled and aimed entirely at getting links, they will not succeed. You need somebody writing these articles who cares
If you choose to work with an SEO Agency, it’s important to find one that understands the value of the user in all this. Yes, you want your site to rank as well as possible, but the best way to do that, as Google says time and time again, is to think about the most useful content for the customer. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions.
