There is certainly a new level of SEO chatter happening. It all seems to have started with Google a few months ago talking about the updates they would soon be pushing out to their search algo. Wait, let's back up even more. Remember last year when Aaron and Rand were talking about search spam? Yes,
Many SEOs have been talking about the decline of Google search results
And when these high profile pieces are published, our SEO reseller bat phones ring off the hook. All of our partners want to know how this will impact rankings? What should I tell my customers? Should we be changing tactics? That's what usually happens. But then J C Penney happened, and this brought the discussion to an entirely new level. Or did it?
Sure, the entire Google black hat discussion is front-and-center again. But as this video clip compilation from 2009 shows, this is not a new discussion. Oh no. We've been talking about appropriate on-site and off-site SEO tactics with our SEO resellers since 2008. And we were general late-comers to the SEO reseller scene.
So what's the big deal with Google's Farmer Update?
Supposedly, this is the first algorithm change aimed specifically at low-quality content farms. But if you browse through other updates, you will find this is not the case. Each algo update has the same objectives: Improve search quality for Google so that the user experience is better. They know (rightfully) that the day their search quality fails, so does their advertising revenues. To the extent that low-quality, commercially-oriented websites can game the Google system, there is risk for Google's business model. Plain and simple.
So in the last few weeks we saw the latest attempt from Google to remove those who they see as a threat to their business model. And good for them. But as always, our SEO reseller community jumps on the phone worried about the implications. We understand. Customers barely understand SEO as it is. They are confused about what's right and wrong, what's acceptable and not acceptable, what's white hat vs black hat. Well, here's why we have nothing to worry about in our SEO reseller program:
* We write high quality content
* We only use original content
* We don't use black hat tactics for link building
* We promote real businesses that serve real customers
In short, we are NOT who Google is trying to remove from their search results. Neither is DemandMedia, by the way. No. Google likes real businesses. People are looking for real businesses (who also happen to be Google's customers). Google also likes high-quality, unique, content providers. DemandMedia is one of those. Semify is also a high-quality, unique content provider.
Google does NOT like affiliates
Google doesn't like affiliates because they are basically middlemen who do nothing but jack up the price. Google does not like content scrapers, thiefs and copyright infringes. Google does not like programmers who trick end-users or attempt to cloak things from their search engine spiders. And Google particularly hates machine-generated pseudo-content. But if you are not engaged in any of these things, and have a real client who you are delivering to through our SEO reseller program, rest easy. Google is happy with you. As with every other update over the last 3 years, I suspect that the Google Farmer update will clear away the junk so that our high-quality work (and your clients' high-quality websites) can rank even higher.