The Google Panda Reading Room
Before you outsource your writing project to a "bottom bidder" content service, consider the information below. Your search engine success depends on it.
Why do we stress the importance of quality website content? Why do we work so hard to create premium content for our clients? Because your search engine rankings depend on it. Good content has always been important. But today, it's more important than ever before -- thanks to the Google Panda update.
What is Google Panda, and Why Should I Care?
Google Panda is an update to Google's ranking algorithm. An algorithm is a computer's way of evaluating and ranking websites, based on a variety of factors. Google has been tweaking its algorithm ever since the company's inception. But the Panda update they implemented in February 2011 was different. Essentially, it penalizes websites for having what it deems to be low-quality content.
(By the way, it's named after one of the Google employees who worked on the project, Navneet Panda.)
The key difference with this update is that it flags the entire website, not just the individual pages. In the past, search engine "penalties" were mostly handed out on a page-by-page basis. But this update changed all of that.
Example: Let's say I have a website with 100 pages of content. Most of the content (70%) is well written, original and useful. The other 30% of the website is made up of low-quality content -- short articles, unoriginal content reprinted from other sites, etc. In the past, this website would be mostly unaffected by updates to the Google algorithm. The weak content (30%) might be devalued in the rankings. But the rest of the site would be fine. And then along came the Panda update. Today, the entire site would likely be penalized -- even the pages with quality content.
Here's a quote from Amit Singhal, the software engineer who heads up the Google rankings team:
"Low-quality content on some parts of a website can impact the whole site's rankings, and thus removing low quality pages, merging or improving the content of individual shallow pages into more useful pages ... could eventually help the rankings of your higher-quality content."
Make no mistake about it. You need to go above and beyond with your website content, if you want to perform well in Google. But don't take my word for it. Here's what others have had to say about it...
Yahoo Deletes 75,000 Articles - Search Engine Land
Yahoo's "Associated Content" website has long been known for producing, shall we say, less-than-stellar content. The website suffered a major loss in Google-driven traffic when the Panda update took effect. So Yahoo is now making efforts to purge its junk content, and to implement new standards for its writers. So let me ask you this: If you fill your website with low-quality content just to save a buck, what makes you think you won't suffer the same fate? What kind of standards do you have for your own website content?
Q&A With Google's Top Search Engineers - Wired.com
Steven Levy from Wired Magazine interviewed Amit Singhal and Matt Cutts, two of Google's top engineers. During the interview, Matt Cutts said something I view as a significant shift in ranking philosophy: "In some sense when people come to Google, that's exactly what they're asking for -- our editorial judgment." So it seems the leading search engine is evolving from a ranking system that looks at keywords and link popularity (traditional SEO factors), to the editorial quality of the content.
Google Declares War on Nonsense - New York Times
This article gives you a good look at the world of "content farms." These are websites that crank out articles in a matter of minutes -- literally. They fill the web with junk that nobody wants to read, all in the name of quick profits. They are also the perpetual targets of Google's search engine algorithm. If you outsource your content to such writers, you could quickly find yourself on the wrong side of their ranking system.
Google Revamps Its Search Engine to Fight Cheaters - Wall Street Journal
Quote: "Last month, Google acknowledged it 'can and should do better' to beat back sites that 'copy content from other websites' or provide information that is 'just not very useful' but are ranked highly anyway."
Demand Media Traffic Down by 40% After Panda - PC Magazine
his story explains how Demand Media's website network suffered a huge drop in traffic from Google. This is the notorious "content farm" company that cranks out articles for LiveStrong.com, eHow.com and other puff-piece libraries. I've included this story, because it relates to the kind of website content you'll end up with if you outsource to bottom bidders, freelance networks and the like.
Cheap Website Content, or Good Website Content ... Choose One
Quality website content takes time to produce. It doesn't come easy. It requires research, forethought, revisions and proofreading. You can do these things for yourself, or you can hire a professional writer -- as long as they get done.
Problems occur when you shop for a writer based on price alone. If you choose a writer with the lowest rates, you will essentially end up with the kind of content that gets de-valued by Google (as evidenced by the stories above). This means your website will never live up to its full potential, in terms of search engine rankings and traffic. Is your website a key component of your business? If so, you need to make a reasonable investment in your content.
You can have good content, or cheap content. But you can't have both. Quality content is hard to produce, so writers naturally charge more for it. Junky content can be churned out much faster, so the companies that produce it can undercut the good writers in terms of pricing. They charge a smaller fee for a lower-quality product. So you have to make a choice. Do you want good content that will serve you well now and into the future? Or do you want cheap content that's basically a ticking time bomb?
We produce premium website content, and we charge a fair price for it. We are not the cheapest company around. But we're not the most expensive either. So why should you use our services? It's simple. We will do everything we can to make sure you stay on the good side of the Panda!
Do you have questions about our website content solutions? Need a quote for your writing project? Please contact Melissa, our client services manager.
