Shocking isn’t it?

Content is King…you’ve heard it stated over and over again. Well, this month Google has decided to show us once again exactly what that means.

The first of two algorithm updates has been quietly dubbed the “Scraper” algorithm and is intended to block low quality scraper sites from showing up in the Google index. Immediately after it released some webmasters complained that their traffic had dropped as much as 40-60%. These same webmasters also claim to have in depth content, and point out that the real content farms and scraper sites have either maintained or risen in ranks.

Google’s Matt Cutts stated that the algorithm is very targeted and only 2% of queries were changed in some way and only 0.5% of the results would change enough that anyone would notice. He also stated that the algorithm is designed to elevate those sites which created the original content over those sites who republish it.

Later in the month Google released its second algorithm update dubbed the “Farmer” update that is believed to specifically target content farms. Google has stated that this update impacts 11.8% of queries which is pretty significant compared to most updates in the algorithm.

Google announced that this update penalizes content farms, but they won’t confirm that content farms are the main target. However, Google did mention their Chrome extension allows users to create a personal block list right from their search results. When a site gets blocked by a user, data is sent to Google and is then used to evaluate which sites might be scraper sites or content farms.

When Google released the “Farmer” update, they compared the new results with the most commonly blocked sites and found that 84% of those sites were affected by the new algorithm. Not only is Google using this to confirm the effectiveness of their update, but they also show how good users are at identifying sites that use spammy SEO tactics to rank well.

This may leave you wondering how exactly Google is defining a content farm. In the past this has been a very loosely used term with no clear definition. However, thanks to this update we can see by example who Google feels has made the cut and who has taken a big ranking hit and been labeled a…

Farmer:

• Mahalo.com
• EzineArticles (all article directories for that matter)
• HubPages.com
• Business.com
• faqs.org
• Wisegeek.com

The Other Guys:

• Facebook
• EBAY
• Wikis (wikipedia, Google Knol)
• YouTube
• Instructrables & Ehow (both are VERY surprising but were not touched)
• Yahoo Answers (very surprising here)
• Etsy.com (comparison shopping)
• Amazon

If your site was hit by either one of these updates you should consider making a big push to create original high quality content and replace any auto generated content.

Well that’s about to change. From an article I read a few days ago by Esoos Bobnar, it sure shed some light on time-tested strategies and insider tips that are use to quickly and easily create content that other sites are happy to link to.

Follow these examples and your site will be pulling in tons of links in no time.

Top on the magical recipe of linkbaiting are Lists.

It’s actually the “The Grand-Daddy of All Linkbait”.

• Lists are one of the easiest and most effective ways to grab an audience and build links. In fact, lists are so popular there’s concern they may soon become played out on some social media sites. Therefore, we suggest you try something a bit more interesting and unusual to help your content stand out from the crowd.

One good possibility is to replace the old tried-and-true Top 10 list, with a more unusual number. For example…

• 8 most important things to remember before leaving your house
• 20 fitness truths to get that body you always desired
• 42 ways on how not to run a pageant

See what I mean?…Try to be wacky in order to make it catchy.

Now, just a warning for really lazy, stupid people. It does not mean that we should just go “gaga” about copying and pasting all the link-worthy articles we see when we do our research and bookmark it into social media sites. Remember, doing so would be plagiarism as well as a copyright violation and it would damage your reputation which really makes it a big NO NO! So spare yourself from all the trouble. If writing is not your specialty, consider hiring then. Your mission here is to provide great content that’s going to attract traffic and links to your site.

There are a lot of sources when outsourcing article creation for sites you’re managing. A few are Problogger Job Boards, Rent A Coder and Craigslist.

That’s sure beats the heck out of begging for links via email, and it’s great to sit back and enjoy as you watch those inbound links accumulate on their own viral momentum.

The guys from pinoyblogosphere is throwing up a contest to trumpet the beauty and strength of the Filipino Language in line with this year’s Buwan ng Wika theme: “Maraming Wika, Matatag na Bansa” (Free translation: “A gift of tongues for a strong nation”). With the significance of the Internet in shaping the culture today, blogging about the Language will not only enforce the online Filipinos’ love for their native tongue, but also promote it to bloggers around the world.

So calling all fellow bloggers out there. Let us support this contest and let’s all be proud to be pinoy. Sumulat para mamulat ang iba tungkol sa ating mahal na Pilipinas! Wow, that actually rhymed…

This article has been tabbyfied! \m/^_^\m/