Google Panda Farmer

1. 0

   Motown2Chitownposted 13 years ago

   I hate to sound like a newbie (although I am), but I am completely and totally ignorant of this whole Google Panda "slap."  I had no great dreams of earning zillions when I started writing on HubPages.  In all honesty, I just wanted somewhere to write.  I've read every forum thread that I can find about the topic, but I'm still a bit confused.
   
   Can anyone explain to me what's happening and tell me how it might/might not actually affect me?
   
   Thanks in advance!

   replyreport
   1. 59

      paradigmsearchposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      For more info you can go to:
      
      http://hubpages.com/hub/Panic-At-Google … ent-Farmer

      replyreport
      1. 59

         Mark Ewbieposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Lol, thanks.  I think she's already been.  The total lack of information drove her here.

         replyreport
   2. 63

      Lisa HWposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Since  you say you're new, you may not really need to worry much about anything other than following the present/latest set of writing rules/standards that HP now has.  It's mainly people who had a lot of Hubs written according to earlier rules and standards who are now trying to figure out what to do, how to fix things, etc. etc.  People had been earning with "the old ways", so when the Panda thing happened and changed what would be getting what traffic, a lot of people had major drops in earnings/traffic.
      
      The biggest differences are probably that people had more freedom when it came to links on their Hubs, and a lot of people were fairly relaxed about English grammar in their Hubs.  The kinds of stuff that got better traffic before isn't necessarily getting better traffic now, but other stuff is getting better traffic.  HP has made changes as a way of making Google "happier" and as a way of trying to improve traffic to people's Hubs.
      
      So I'd say if you just write whatever you were planning to write, but according to the latest standards, that's kind of it.  If you have questions about your new Hubs you can ask them in the "Extreme Make-Over" section of the forums.  If you need help as you go along you can ask in that forum.  It would be easier for people to you get "unconfused" if you ask specific questions you may have in that forum. (I'm not being fresh at all.  It's just that, no matter how simple or complicated each question may be, it's always easier to get a better answer if people know exactly what you're wondering about.)  (Of course, with some questions, like any exactly what will or won't happen with traffic there's not really a way to answer them.)

      replyreport
2. 59

   Mark Ewbieposted 13 years ago

   Hi Motown.
   
   Google changed their algorithm, this is the code that determines which sites get ranked in the search results.  HP used to be ranked highly, now it isn't.
   
   This link shows the effect on traffic - quite a hit.
   
   http://www.quantcast.com/hubpages.com
   
   HP (management and writers) is in an uproar over changes to the site, to hubs which is affecting a lot of people - mainly those who were actually making some money from the site.
   
   That's about it.

   replyreport
3. 93

   Dolores Monetposted 13 years ago

   The whole Google thing seems to have changed. Where once it was a kind of democracy where regular people could research and write interesting articles that other people would read - now we see a move toward the big boys, commercial and corporate entities. The little people, just like everywhere, have seen reduced traffic and income, pushed aside by 'authority sites.'
   
   Because the content farms (us) are too full of spam, copied articles, poorly written crap, and oversaturated topics. When you have a mob (us), it can be taken down by either by its own rabble, or by the Man.

   replyreport
4. 0

   Motown2Chitownposted 13 years ago

   Thanks, para.  And thanks, Mark.  Yup.  Already been - just didn't leave a drop in the comments to prove it.  Still confused.  Sigh.

   replyreport
5. 69

   Michael Willisposted 13 years ago

   The "Big Boys" don't want to share their internet toys!
   
   The Big sites pay money for their sites, their writers and their Google rankings. When the "little man" started to cut into their profits...they whined and cried like little babies until Papa Google put a butt kicking on the "outsiders!"
   
   And yes, we are listed in that category of the "outsiders."

   replyreport
6. 69

   Michael Willisposted 13 years ago

   Google has become such a huge internet search engine that they must think they now "control the internet."
   Wouldn't be shocked if down the road, only the paying customers to Google received any "presence" in their search results.
   It's all about the money....as always. Business is business!

   replyreport
7. 80

   thisisoliposted 13 years ago

   http://www.seochemist.com/SEO/why-i-am- … ch-engine/
   
   I am not a huge fan of Google as it is at the moment, but it is still the best of a bad bucnh.  I would be much happier of Google release a 'Google Classic' option.

   replyreport
   1. 69

      Michael Willisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Excellent link, thanks Thisisoli.

      replyreport
   2. 0

      Motown2Chitownposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      THIS really is an excellent link.  Thanks, oli.  I read the article and am now a lot clearer.  Don't know that I ever really understood the difference between a search engine and a web portal. 
      
      I've always known though that when I wanted to just do a "search," even when Yahoo was my homepage, I always went to Google.
      
      Thanks for the great info!
      
      Michael, thanks for your contribution as well.  It helped me make some sense of the whole thing also!

      replyreport
      1. 69

         Michael Willisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         You are very welcome.

         replyreport
8. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 13 years ago

   @thisisoli - My neighbor said, maybe this is Google's New Coke.  I've been using Bing with better results for long tail searches.   Robin looks over my shoulder to see the Bing results and says, "wow, that looks like Google classic" 
   
   The first update happened on Feb 23, the next April 12.  I think a few major tweaks are yet to come.

   replyreport
   1. 69

      Michael Willisposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I still prefer Yahoo for most searches. I seem to get closer related searches there than I do with Google or Bing.
      BTW...you watching the draft Paul?

      replyreport
9. 59

   JulieBMackposted 13 years ago

   Here is another link that may be helpful to people. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/googles-farm … -vs-losers
   
   What I have noticed is stricter guidelines on most sites, but no increase pay!  it seems a lot of these content sites have strict guidelines for income return that is pretty much a joke. I write here to write on topics that don't fit anywhere else.  But, not really for money.  I earn most of my money as a freelance writer.

   replyreport
10. 0

    Motown2Chitownposted 13 years ago

    Thanks to you all for the helpful info!  To Dolores, I apologize, I don't know how I missed thanking you yesterday!  I'm sheepish.
    
    To Lisa and Julie, your answers were both very helpful.  Thank you!

    replyreport
11. 69

    celebritieposted 13 years ago

    From what I understand after asking my brother about all this he said that all Google did was make it easier for big company site to rank and harder for marketers to rank for oversaturated niches.
    
    Many affiliate marketers were leveraging content sharing sites to link to their mini sites as well as to rank higher in the serps for competitive keywords.
    
    Google does not like affiliate marketers who make made for adsense minisites and many had figured out how to game the algorithm by manipulating content on writer social sites like hubpages,  xomba, etc.
    
    Many of these paid to write sites had high PR and affiliate marketers were able to dominate the searches and get their content in the top 10 spots in Google within 24 hours by linking from content sharing sites this let them gain the lion share of the traffic.
    
    Plus they used backlinking services to beat out their competition for keywords that had the most likely to return a profit.
    
    Basically many of the mini sites were built around niche topics that has spun, outsourced and scrapped content all for the purpose of selling clickbank, commission junction, or CPA offers.
    
    (what happened is the honest people who were knowledgeable about SEO got caught in the cross fire against the spammers) which is really unfortunate!!
    
    I think google wants to be a paid search engine so if you want to rank in the top 10 search results for popular keyword phrases you will have to pay for the priviledge or be a "brand" site.
    
    My friend said that hobby sites where people are passionate about a particular subject will do really well, plus the new SEO is going to be based on social activity from Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.
    
    The whole quality content idea just means that you offer the reader more details with charts, graphs and lots of text.
    
    Thats why you see so many hubbers starting to write hubs that are 1,000 to 5,000 words long.
    
    The sad thing is that Google can not tell the difference between a original unique content over a very well done spun article.
    
    So they have to use human auditors to look at sites to determine if they should be part of the search results.
    
    Now it is best to build 2 or 3 really good researched quality sites versus hundreds of thinly written ones.
    
    If you plan on staying on sites like hubpages you will have to pick low competition topics and then write it in a how to or helpful manner.
    
    Either way it looks like that a few things are still relevant and that is that no matter if you write for hubpages or your own sites you will have to market your work.
    
    You will have to get quality backlinks, share on social sites and update content on a regular basis.
    
    I like to write about celebrites so I will stick with that because there is always new content to write about and I can always add my perspective about it too!

    replyreport