Thread: Google Algorithm Multiple Changes 2011

Matt Cutts posted “we’re evaluating multiple changes that should help drive spam levels even lower, including one change that primarily affects sites that copy others’ content and sites with low levels of original content.”

The change is supposed to help the site that posted the original content instead of the sites that scrape of copy articles.

It looks like they are gearing up to go after autoblogs.

That falls in line with their recent policy statement about 'unoriginal content' and AdSense.

AdSense Facts & Fiction Part V: Unoriginal content - Inside AdSense


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I'm liking their updated algorithm my site now ranks #2 in the US for my most targeted keyphrase, only beaten by yahoo answers.

SCORE!

Originally Posted by TopDogger

It looks like they are gearing up to go after autoblogs.

That falls in line with their recent policy statement about 'unoriginal content' and AdSense.

AdSense Facts & Fiction Part V: Unoriginal content - Inside AdSense.

I guess they're fed up with the same cr*p all over the net, and lets face it, a lot of it is cr*p, poor quality useless garbage and who wants that copied. No-one can now say they weren't warned either, they even put a bit in their January newsletter asking people to grass up such sites:

Unoriginal Content
Did you know that sites using software to generate automated information or otherwise unoriginal content is a serious violation of our policies? Read our webmaster quality guidelines, and if you find violating sites within our network, feel free to report them to us.

Tbh I always worry when I get an email from google, newsletter or otherwise, but then I've had a few too many of "... add serving has been disabled to to your site [whatever] domain..." so I'm not going to rock their boat. I've never had an auto blog but I did consider doing one or two just to try it. I shan't be now that's for sure.

It's a pity there's no other ad publisher competition that's in the running and pays as well, google has that one sewn up big time. They've got us by the short and curlies, all we can do is obey. Resistance is futile.

I for one do not believe google will drop auto blogs from the searches.

If so, huffpo and a whole slew of them would be out of business.

Now, for auto blogs, there really are two types:
One that takes the FULL article from somewhere.
Those I see google going after.

The other just summarize an article.
I just don't see google hurting these types.

Again, Matt says something and SEO people go gaga!
Am sure if I wasted time on finding more information on this, there would be a lot of misinformation out there (forums, blogs...but mostly forums).

It's not really a matter of what Matt Cutts says, but most (not all) of what he predicts does end up happening. There is also the issue of the posting in the AdSense blog and the January AdSense newsletter. Those types of warnings tend to precede actions. It looks like several warning shots are being fired.

We've already seen G go after directories, thin affiliates and data feed sites. I fully agree that the main targets will likely be sites that copy full articles, but after all, that is what most autoblogs do.

dawg, I know that you don't want to hear this, but if every autoblog on the planet disappeared, the search results would likely improve. Most people dislike finding 8 out of the top 10 articles to be duplicates.

Heck, G has taken at least $20k in annual income away from me because of changes they made over the past year. I don't do autoblogs, so it won't hurt me, but it sure looks like they are setting their sites for them.

The warnings may not mean anything, but then again. . .

I don't agree with most of the changes made by G over the past year, including all of the bells and whistles they have loaded into the search results pages, but I don't have a vote in the matter.

Will Spencer January 29, 2011 at 1:43 pm
I’d like to make sure two cases don’t cause trouble:

1. We changed CMS’s on one of our major sites. All the post dates got updated. This site is scraped *heavily*. I could send DMCA notices all day every day.

2. We repost older posts on some of our sites (on the same web site, at the same URL). I’d hate to see the scrapers suddenly be seen as _older_ than some of our best posts.

The change was launched a couple of weeks ago. Have you noticed any effects?

Originally Posted by TopDogger

It looks like they are gearing up to go after autoblogs.

That falls in line with their recent policy statement about 'unoriginal content' and AdSense.

AdSense Facts & Fiction Part V: Unoriginal content - Inside AdSense


.

Autoblogs are one target.

Matt Cutts also mentions " sites with low levels of original content." I wonder if that means that articles directories could be targeted as well?

Originally Posted by bogart

Autoblogs are one target.

Matt Cutts also mentions "sites with low levels of original content." I wonder if that means that articles directories could be targeted as well?

That could be interpreted as any site that does not contain at least a certain percentage of original content. Pure autoblogs, article directories with duplicate content, cut-and-paste dupe content sites, data feed sites and others will fit into that definition.

With some duplicate content it will be difficult for them to determine which site has the original content. Trust rank may be a factor.

This would also apply to sites with PLR articles as well.

Originally Posted by TopDogger

With some duplicate content it will be difficult for them to determine which site has the original content. Trust rank may be a factor.

This seems to me to be a site wide penalty rather than a duplicate content filter.

The site would have to have a low level of original content. So, a site having 'some' duplicate content would be o.k. But would still be subject to the duplicate content filter.

Originally Posted by codename_B

I'm liking their updated algorithm my site now ranks #2 in the US for my most targeted keyphrase, only beaten by yahoo answers.

SCORE!

Wow. Congrats. You're the first person who I heard is happy with the change.
As for me, I think this is just another reason to stop chasing the algorithm and focus on quality content and quality links.