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[Kurt Henninger Company: Shaklee Corporation Contribution Level: 5]

Hey folks,

Wanted to bring to everyones attention that Google announced yet another Algorithm shift just yesterday, and you can read about it right here on their blog.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/finding-more-high-quality-sites-in.html

Now, if you've been watching the SEO scene lately, Google has done quite a bit of tweaking in the last month or so, but what makes this change rather unusual is that they readily admit in their article that this affects almost 12% of search queries.

The search community right now is in quite a bit of debate over how this does or does not change SEO strategies, at least in the short term.

BUT....one conclusion that alot of us have come to is that alot of Web 2.0 and article directory sites/pieces of content have taken a big hit in the rankings.

Sites like Hubpages and EzineArticles.com. (Perhaps even here at BN?)

I've checked the rankings on a couple dozen of my own higher ranking pieces of content on those sites...and yes...quite a few of them took a major dive in their rankings.

Keep in mind, this is just some very short term things we've seen, and it still has yet to be determined.

The article is a good read and I recommend it to anyone who relies on article marketing or organic search for generating leads.

[Nathan Isaac Company: SendOutCards Contribution Level: 3]

Thanks for that, I'm actually quite excited for it

Maybe I can finally search for something and not have
to go through all the dang garbage "Review blogs"

[Kurt Henninger Company: Shaklee Corporation Contribution Level: 5]

So far it doesn't look like it has affected 'review blogs' but much more of an affect on article directories, web 2.0 properties, or other "content farms" as they are described.

But, results aren't uniform across the board and only time will tell how this pans out.

[Ket-Sang Tai Company: Vemma Nutrition Company Contribution Level: 2]

I like it. A lot of articles on Ezinearticle etc are of little value. It is just there to draw traffic to sites.

[Charles Amith Company: Empower Network, LLC Contribution Level: 2]

I haven't felt the impact too much...even in my microsites. The main thing as usual is to post unique content and provide value on your money sites...and keep crap sites totally separate and off the radar (if you use those).

[Art Lovell Contribution Level: 3]

A bigger question is: Doesn't that raise a few eyebrows that essentially the changes are becoming more impactful? I mean don't get me wrong.... use their directory play by their rules... however much like adword accounts banning/slapping that really was moreso of a big swoop with little investigation...how much of this is really about "user experience" I say shenanigans!

[Contempo Marketing Contribution Level: 4]

Honestly the changes do nothing more than solidify the skillsets of the SEO er, I talk about this algo change and how to set your website/blog up to to allow your site to shine regardless of the current changes...

http://www.betternetworker.com/articles ... ame-google

[Rob Hammond Company: Global Virtual Opportunities Contribution Level: 4]

Yeah, but if your SEO is based on backlinks inside of articles inside of article directories which are now devalued, then the foundational principles of the SEO world is affected.
Honestly guys, I don't think any of us should dismiss this. Much of our industry is based on content marketing, and Google has decided that they don't want content marketing in their search results. This is serious, and I think it will foundationally shift the way many of us do our marketing.
At least it's affecting me.
Rob

[David Johnson Contribution Level: 3]

Ezine Articles are making some changes because of this. I think some of it will be good, but not sure if it will save Ezine Articles. I guess only time will tell.

http://blog.ezinearticles.com/2011/02/s ... anges.html

[Charles Amith Company: Empower Network, LLC Contribution Level: 2]

Algo changes happen all of the time. The main thing to do is to get educated about SEO over time, create sites that provide value, and use get links from multiple sources that carry some weight in the search engines (an that doesn't mean just get links from multiple article directories). I still look at PR regardless of what anybody says and I focus getting links from PR 3's to PR 5's pages.