Did Google's Farmer Update Positively/Negatively Affect Your Search Traffic?
-
Oddly the handful of sites that I have which should have most probably been affected negatively actually saw boosts in traffic, CTR on ads and eCPM on ads. Not huge jumps.. but yeah.. I benefited which was odd. These domains are testbeds I set up a long time ago to find the upper limit of what you can "get away with" in google so I know where to draw the line.
Other interesting facts. I rand some tests over the weekend (may not be large enough to be statistically relevant yet) but it seems the farmer update has almost no impact on indexation of poor or duplicate content given enough raw link juice (no anchor, ip diversity or any other cool factors, just a flat link from a big ol' bucket of link juice) which I find disappointing. =/ I expected a bit of a challenge after all this hoopla. Even though I rock the greyhat Im still pretty anti dupe/crap content.
-
Awesome use of the new Q&A Rand!
One of my biggest content sites actually has seen an increase in traffic since the "farmer" update. The content on it is definitely a tick above content farmed crap, but it's also not 5-star.
For what it's worth, it's monetized with AdSense ads and there's really no branded traffic to speak of naturally.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Yelp (recrawl Google/Bing)
If Google and Bing show an older version of a site's Yelp rating in the search results, what options are there to help ensure Google and Bing recrawl the Yelp page? Additionally, it appears third-party sites such as MapQuest show Yelp ratings and appear in Google search results; is it possible to request MapQuest to recrawl Yelp and then ask Google to recrawl MapQuest? Any advice would be much appreciated!
Industry News | | Mack_1 -
What is the most frustrating/challenging part about sending marketing emails?
I'm in the process of gathering research into the challenges most commonly faced by marketers when executing email campaigns. What are yours? And what role do your play in the process? (Job title?) Looking forward to a spirited discussion!
Industry News | | johnbonini0 -
SEO For Local Searches
I run a driving school of over 100 instructors in the UK. We cover around 60 different areas. My homepage www.driveJohnsons.co.uk is optimised for 'driving lessons' and 'driving school' search terms mainly. My area pages are optimised for the same but with the area included ie: Driving Lessons Birmingham or Driving Lessons Leeds I've taken a drop in many areas... I've cleaned up my incoming links using the disavow too and upped more relevant links associated with the same industry as myself. The question i have is should i change my URL's for my area pages from www.driveJohnsons.co.uk/driving-lessons-leeds to: www.driveJohnsons.co.uk/leeds I've been told stuffing the URL with keywords for an area actually dilutes the strength of my homepage and all the other areas. At the moment i have 60 area pages with: www.drivejohnsons.co.uk/driving-lessons-area It use to work a treat, but i've started seeing some companies change their URLs to: /area and excluding the driving-lessons If i make this change then i'm either going to have to bit the bullet on build up links for those areas again or do a redirect for each area. I've added most areas to google places and i've added google map to many of area pages too. If anyone knows a bit more, please let me know...
Industry News | | Anthony19820 -
Will Google ever begin penalising bad English/grammar in regards to rankings and SEO?
Considering Google seem to be on a great crusade with all their algorithm updates to raise the overall "quality" of content on the Internet, i'm a bit concerned with their seeming lack of action towards penalising sites that contain terrible English. I'm sure you've all noticed this when you attempt to do some proper research via Google and come across an article that "looks" to be what you're after, then you click through and realise it's obviously been either put together in a rush by someone not paying attention or putting much effort in, or been outsourced for cheap labour to another country whose workers aren't (close to being) native speakers. It's getting really old trying to make sense of articles that have completely incorrect grammar, entirely missing words, verb tenses that don't make any sense, randomly over-extravagant adjectives thrown in just as padding, etc. etc. No offense to all those from non-native speaking countries who are attempting to make a few bucks online, but this for me is becoming by far more of an issue in terms of "quality" of information online as opposed to some of the other search issues that are being given higher priority, and it just seems strange that Google have been so blasé about it up to this point - especially given so many of these articles and pages are nothing more than outsourced filler for cheap traffic. I understand it's probably hard to code in something so advanced, but it would go a long way towards making the web a better place in my opinion. Anyone else feeling the same way? Thoughts?
Industry News | | ExperienceOz1 -
Not schema, but a new kind of search result?
I came across this search result in Google and I've been racking my brain out in trying to figure out how they did it. Do a search for Novus CD4 and you'll see a search result where they list additional products from the landing page. I used Google's Rich Snippet tool to analyse the page and find no microdata at play. Any ideas how this was achieved? Have you guys come across anything like this? I was thinking of integrating this with schema to display rating stars and prices on an ecommerce site S4aL5.png
Industry News | | Bio-RadAbs0 -
Google Pushed Out Panda Update 3.9 Last Night
Google said it was rolling out a Panda algorithm last night. Â New data refresh of Panda starts rolling out tonight. ~1% of search results change enough to notice. More context: goo.gl/huekfHas anyone been affected yet ....I seem to see a jump in some newer sites less than 3 months old already for some rankings - I don't like seeing rankings that quick!Do you see anything?
Industry News | | Chenzo1 -
Help! I need to hire a SEO / SEM Specialist - Am I asking for too much?!
Hey all! I'm expanding my in-house marketing team and I need to add an SEO / SEM Specialist that will strategize, execute & manage the following: Organic SEO PPC across multiple channels (Google, Bing & also social sites like Facebook) Remarketing & Display marketing Banner ads Retargeting We're a lean company that's all about doing more with less. But not being very familiar with the SEO / SEM world I'm afraid I'm asking for too much! What do you guys think? What's your experience been? If you do think that this is potentially a single position, what would be the best title for attracting talent? SEO / SEM Specialist? Digital Marketing Manager? With the research I've done - jobs / titles have been totally across the board! I'm not able to find much consistency. Thank you all for your help 🙂 It's greatly appreciated!!!!!
Industry News | | RochelleRietow0 -
What is the best SEO Seminar/Training option in the US?
I have 3 years of SEO experience and am an SEO Manager. I am well versed, though much room for growth and education.  I want to find an SEO Seminar or training program that best suits my needs.  It seems most are a one size fits all seminars.  Any recommendations, thoughts or ideas?
Industry News | | dkamen0