Content Farms
It is nice to call then "Content Farms"; so called 'publishing sites' or 'blogs' where a few words, most senseless, are packed around Ads.
From splash screens to pop-ups, to moronic sex cartoons, every view is a 'hit' and the attempt to close a window results in a click on an Ad.
From splash screens to pop-ups, to moronic sex cartoons, every view is a 'hit' and the attempt to close a window results in a click on an Ad.
How It Works
A user enters text in a search box. Google is supposed to find all items on point and rank them. Page one should have the best matches available.
SEO gorgons know how to slap in the 'keywords' the Google looks for. They compose rubbish, but appear on the First Page of a Google.
Users click.
It might take a few seconds to appreciate this is crap, or it might take a few minutes; because most Netizens multi-task.
I've Googled while playing Scrabble. Here's page one, I click on a likely site, go back to my game. The site might be up for five minutes before I look at it. Soon as I see it, I shut it down, but it counts as a 'hit' and the SEO gorgon bilks Adsense another fraction of a coin.
You can see why Google is not happy about this.
A user enters text in a search box. Google is supposed to find all items on point and rank them. Page one should have the best matches available.
SEO gorgons know how to slap in the 'keywords' the Google looks for. They compose rubbish, but appear on the First Page of a Google.
Users click.
It might take a few seconds to appreciate this is crap, or it might take a few minutes; because most Netizens multi-task.
I've Googled while playing Scrabble. Here's page one, I click on a likely site, go back to my game. The site might be up for five minutes before I look at it. Soon as I see it, I shut it down, but it counts as a 'hit' and the SEO gorgon bilks Adsense another fraction of a coin.
You can see why Google is not happy about this.
The problem isn't just that the Netizen enters a search term and is directed to a crap site which contains no information or isn't even on point, the problem is that Google has to pay via Adsense.
The problem isn't that it is a random site here and there, it is that particular sites publish crap so full of Keywords that they appear on the First Page all the time.
A few people who have used the site to post articles or considered it of respectability are duped.
The problem isn't that it is a random site here and there, it is that particular sites publish crap so full of Keywords that they appear on the First Page all the time.
A few people who have used the site to post articles or considered it of respectability are duped.
The Reaction of Google to This
To your right you see a new option; that is to bulk block particular sites. That means all results from that site will Not appear in a Google.
The second is the change of algorithm; particular sites need a trailerload of hits to count as one hit. Anything posted on those sites will appear on the Last Page of a Google. |
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For years writers have complained that too much crap was filling the site and deleterious to their own reputation. A number of publishing sites, couldn't care less.
Years ago, Triond was a respectable site. There were human editors. Now, fully automated, any garbage is published.
Yes, Crap sells but there is a difference between the false death announcement of an actor and a slurry of words Search Engines love. |
It ends
Many so called 'writing sites' are about to enter the Cybertoilet. Having sat back and let their business run itself it has now run itself out. A few sites, Hubpages, Xomba, are taking Google's changes very very seriously.
Hubhopping
Anyone who joins Hubpages has the opportunity to 'hubhop'. This exposes one to what is posted on the site. Out of a hundred postings there may be one or two of some value. The remainder is Spam of various types.
Recognising this, Hubpages seeks to hire human moderators, aware that only a human eye can tell the difference between an ad and an academic tome.
Recognising this, Hubpages seeks to hire human moderators, aware that only a human eye can tell the difference between an ad and an academic tome.