Comments on: The Google Farmer Update and Squidoo

By: Sario

Sario — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:53:55 +0000

Great article. I actually just started back on Hubpages and wondered why I kept getting a hub flagged as promotional, and my hub was way shorter than yours. So no wonder it would get flagged if your really lengthy one didn’t go through. Anyway, after that, I told myself that Hubpages is not worth it unless you just post hubs without any links and just hope to gain with Adsense and their own ad programs. For Squidoo, as long as you have a few modules and different elements in there and make it a bit long, they leave you alone and you can have links going pretty much anywhere. Thanks.

By: Geekgurl

Geekgurl — Fri, 06 May 2011 20:41:36 +0000

Great information and insight. Hopefully Squidoo keeps chugging along.

By: MiMi

MiMi — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:39:32 +0000

UUU hit the nail on the head. Seth’s belief in it still holds water today and will continue to hold water. The answer to “how to get that traffic” is to write as an expert or with passion. That, to me, is the biggest lesson to glean from the Google update.

By: LisaAuch

LisaAuch — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 14:44:15 +0000

Hey there – just popped back and swotting up – great that you take all this and break it down so I can at least understand it, a little more clearly.
i was gobsmaced the other day when the hubby arived home and asked me about the “content farms” and what was going on with google? I asked him why? and even as you clearly stated when the news grabs hold of it it is big news, then he proceeded to tell me he told the whole office to be quite whilst he listened as it could affect his missus business online, then he said do you know whats happening, and i said no but I know of a dedicatated lensmaster who is pretty good at keeping us all up to date! So even hubby says thanks too
I am trying to encourage more over here too!

Hope your well, and your info is always greatly appreciated

Lisa

By: JoAnn

JoAnn — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:08:45 +0000

This is a great post. It explains what has changed so easily to this newbie at Squidoo. Thanks so much for writing it. I really hope Squidoo doesn’t take a hit.

By: Greekgeek

Greekgeek — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 05:36:42 +0000

It’s not any personal relationship with Google, I’m sure: Squidoo is too small, and Google’s slapped it when they thought it appropriate. But this time it’s an algorithm change. Google insists they’re not targeting any particular site, just changing the algorithm to attempt to favor “high quality” content. Some sites got burned more than others by whatever they did. We just got lucky.

When all is said and done, although Hubpages took a tremendous hit, it looks like it may still have more global traffic than Squidoo, although now they are pretty close to the same. It seems to me that actually makes sense, since they’re not that far apart in approach.

The other thing I wonder is is how Alexa, and Quantcast, for that matter, are taking these measurements.

By: Jon

Jon — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 00:49:16 +0000

I had no idea you could use alexa to check a sites bounce rate. I am actually very glad that Squidoo is doing well ( so far). It’s the one remaining “article directory” of mine that did not get caught up in the sting operation. Hats off to Seth Godin. Perhaps he has some close friends at Google, but I think the more likely answer is that he knows how to build a quality site.. and he’s a good PR guy too.. which Google tends to like.

By: Flynn the Cat

Flynn the Cat — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 01:33:44 +0000

Back again – just popped in to grab the link to add to a list of recommended links on my blog, and I noticed you’d already linked to me! So thank you ^_^

By: lakeerieartists

lakeerieartists — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:48:43 +0000

Really nice post here. I believe that Hubpages will rebound. I know that they are reaching out to Google to find out what the penalty was for. But making too many conclusions based on one change is really too soon in my book. I still get more traffic from Hubpages then Squidoo for about the same amount of articles.

Certainly life is never dull when you write online for a living.

By: Greekgeek

Greekgeek — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:26:36 +0000

Yes, I’ve been dipping my toes into the edges of the vast field of semantic search since last August. I’m still getting a handle on how the concept is actually being implemented by search engines in the real world.

I alluded to it here with “related search,” which I see as Google’s baby steps in true semantic search, but I’m always afraid of using the word “semantic” in a post because it requires me to stop and explain that whole topic. That “New Long Tail of SEO” tutorial I mentioned was my first attempt to explain to Squidoo members how to take advantage of semantic search to get more traffic — except I never mentioned the word “semantic,” because I didn’t want to scare newbies with jargon.