March 10th, 2011 • Posted by Seth Gardenswartz • Permalink
Late last month Google announced that it was changing its algorithm yet again. The update (commonly called the "Farmer Update") is designed to solve the content farm problem.
Content farms are low quality sites that try to rank for for popular search terms without developing any of their own content. Its hard do know how big the problem is from Google's point of view, but the update affected 12% of domestic searches.
The Farmer Update has a direct affect on independent restaurant websites; it make them more important. Merchant Circle is a national directory of local businesses, including many restaurants. As a result of the Farmer Update, Merchant Circle lost 85% according to Sistrix. That means that thousands of searches that used to go to sites like Merchant Circle are returning different results.
Google made this change because Content Farms would often game the system to draw search traffic that perhaps would have found better content elsewhere. As an local restauranteur this represents a great opportunity for your website to show up in more searches. Now is a great time to look at your website with a fresh prospective. If your web-content is stale, inaccurate or just not that useful there has never been a better time for an update.
Take a look at your menus, your events and any other area of your site that can use a refresh . If your site is impossible to edit or you have lost track of the people who built it for you it might be time for an overhaul.
