A massive change to Google’s search engine ranking algorithm has recently improved query results, while having a negative effect on businesses that had been “gaming” the system or reusing others’ content.
The so-called “Farmer” algorithm update went into effect in late February and affected some 11.8 percent of Google search queries in the United States.
Weeding Out Bad SEO Tactics
Google actually makes about 500 changes to its search-results ranking algorithm — the step-by-step instructions its computers carry out each time search results are displayed — each year as it constantly does battle against search engine optimization (SEO) tactics aimed at “gaming” the algorithm, rather than producing content useful to consumers.
The Farmer update was presumably aimed at content farms, those that produce low-quality information or republish content for the purpose of generating revenue that is often in the form of advertising.
“This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites — sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful,” wrote Google Fellow Amit Singhal and results-spam guru Matt Cutts on The Official Google Blog. “At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites — sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.”
The Farmer update is having a positive effect on many search results. For example, according to a report from Search Engine Land, generally low-quality sites like Associated Content and Suite 101, and content aggregators — such as The Find, which aggregates content from ecommerce sites — all saw significant losses in search results visibility as a result of the Farmer update. Instead of finding multiple pages of results that link to essentially the same content, Google users should be seeing more relevant results now.
3 Things for Merchants to Consider
This update also makes it clear that Google is emphasizing unique and high-quality results — as it should. For online merchants, this fact has three potential impacts.
First, it may no longer be good enough — if it ever was good enough — to copy and republish manufacturer descriptions.
As an example, consider the Schleich Knight’s Castle toy. The product description on the manufacturer’s site reads:
“Realistic in design, the Knight’s castle is a refuge for your favorite Schleich Knights. Saving the castle from a brutal attack, you can manipulate the castle design to suit your imagination. With endless possibilities, this castle brings imaginative play to your home.”
