Hey Guys,
I watched a video created by Matt Cutts, the head of the Google anti-spam team, which I have embedded below for you.
The focus of the video is about a recent change to the Google algorithm, and in particular the way they rank pages for the long tail keyword phrases. I’m interested to hear what you all think about this.
However what I think may possible be the outcome, is sites that Google see as not authority sites will no longer find it so easy to rank for long tail keyword phrases.
What is an authority affiliate marketing site? Well I think it’s one that has a substantial amount of information on it, and is regularly updated with new content. Perhaps the sites that will be affected the most are small sites with a handful of pages, that are solely focusing on getting easy traffic through ranking for specific long tail phrases only.
Form what Matt Cutts says in this video, I think that Google will rank authority sites for long tail phrases even when they are not trying to target the keyword directly. I realize this happens already to some degree, but perhaps it will be more apparent.
So what should you do?
Well I think the key thing to take from this video, is that it’s important to build quality sites, that demonstrate that you’re an authority on the topic, and avoid creating fly by night flimsy sites, that only target a few long tail phrases.
What do you guys think?
Matt Carter
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Since the new search engine design, my organic is down by 30%. I believe that I have quality content and 97% of my articles are at least 95% unique at the time of being published.
I have a few programs that check my articles for plagiarism, so I should be in good hands.
I never really plan for log tail keywords, it happens on its own. I just write for people and then tweak a bit for the search engines. However, my main focus is on humans first.
Seems like the search engines keep changing and we have to learn to adapt to stay in the ball game.
Matt Carter Reply:
June 5th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Hey Spunky Jones SEO
Great points you add here, and I think you are right in saying that adding quality content is key.
Thanks
Matt
Some of my sites took a big dive in ranking overnight yesterday.
I don’t know if it’s MayDay happening here since we’re in June and it just happened for me. I started a thread on Warrior forum and it seems to be happening to a lot of other people as well.
If this is not temporary, it will be a big slap in the face for a lot of affiliate marketers out there and certainly a game changer in the end.
So many people are having mini-sites targeted around long tail keywords, it’s a good part of the affiliate marketing industry.
I guess it shows once again that having all our eggs in the same basket is always a bad idea. You can’t rely on something that could be shut down by a third party overnight.
Anyways, good luck to all affiliate marketers out there!
Matt Carter Reply:
June 5th, 2010 at 9:57 pm
Hey Sebastien
Yeah great point you make about all the eggs in the same basket not being a good idea, totally agree
Thanks
Matt
I think there is a balance between quality & diversity. I understand the thought behind the change but would not want to see the same sites at the top of a whole swathe of searches.
Hopefully as discussed, this will filter out the ‘flimsy’ sits but not at the expense of ‘small’ sites.
Stuart
what is considered an authority site?5page?
Matt Carter Reply:
June 6th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Hey Aghper
I would not consider a 5 page site and authority, but would think a 20+ page that continually grows to be an authority in my opinion, and this is what I am going to focus on for my sites more from now on.
Thanks
Matt
This was bound to happen sooner or later. Since Google only has one first page we will see the bar raised higher and higher. A 20+ page site may be considered an authority this year, but next year it may not make page one depending on the competition. This is an opportunity for anyone who wants to focus and put in the work to rank.
Michael
Spunky Jones and Matt, what tools do you use to check articles for plagiarism?
I agree with Stuart, I hope it only weeds out the flimsy sites but not the genuine smaller ones.
I love the idea that hard work will be rewarded, there are too few people not willing to put in the hours to create great sites.
Sally 🙂
The point is clear. We all have to more clever in building our sites. Good luck to you all!!
I agree. I think the smallest site i own has 40 pages. now they all don’t rank page one, but quite a few of them do. What i noticed,( and probably i see this more than some people having sites over 100 pages) is that some of my pages that have never made a blip on the Google radar are all of a sudden on page 1 or 2, while other pages that have been on page 1 for over a year have totally disapeared off the map.
It all comes down to building sites with a lot of valuable content, and keep adding to them. some pages will stick and some wont.
At the same time, I agree with Spunky. Write for your readers, and don’t rely totally on Google for your Traffic. Although Google is my single biggest traffic source, I still only get about 20% of my traffic through them, so I took a small hit, but it wasnt devastating to my business.
Matt Carter Reply:
June 11th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Hey James
You make some great points, thanks for adding value to the blog!
Cheers
Matt
Matt,
thanks this is useful. I am quite new to Affiliate Marketing, so wanted to know .. does this sort of thing happen quite often ? Google changing the rules of the game ?
And…is this the reason you are going to direct more time to promoting phystical products (less competition, longer tail of product keyword terms) ?
Best Wishes
It’s Google, as M.Cutts stated, the company makes appx 400
changes to their algorithms/yr.
1 Page/post, add videos 1/page. Surly you can hook the video to the post & average 20 to 25 pages/site.
And rather you believe this or not=spinners work.
Just use a little creativity with titles. And use good practices w/SEO. My Opinion & I’m Sticking w/It
Thanks Matt
The best information I have is that Google has regularly made dramatic changes to their algorithms that initially have an equally dramatic effect on rankings etc, but that during the months that follow such a change, they integrate the new algorithm into their standard set and things roughly go back to normal. Clearly change has occurred but it is rarely, if ever, radical in the medium to long term.
I know for sure that many previously high-ranked sites have taken a hit since the latest algorithm came into play, but I believe that most sites will re-achieve their previous positions in the months ahead. That is historically what has occurred and there is little or no evidence to suggest that will not happen this time around. At the “edges” of high ranking, some sites will get hit but most will survive unharmed.
Having said all that, I do believe that carefully crafted and well researched sites have the longest legs – in all areas of the net. Keyword focused sites & domains will always do well in any case, unless knocked by human review, but quality with keyword research will always win out.
The key with Google is never to panic – you have to sit out their changes & if you are pursuing a sound strategy anyway, it will not harm.