Google's Panda Update and content farm slap has a lot of us home writers in a whirl. Our little cottage industry now threatened by the Big Boys has left us quaking in our boots, or should I say beddie slippers.The folks up at Big G seem to be moving forward with what they like to call noble intent - an attempt to weed out the chaff, the spam, the rubbish, and the tons of copied material that clog up Google searches. They claim that Google cred will be given to authoritative sites instead of a bunch of back water yah-hoos spewing content for the various farms that have been created to earn a bit of pin money from Google ads.
Call me naive, but my little plot on the HubPages content farm offers some high quality produce. Sure, there are weeds growing around the edges of the field. I am hoping that the HP staff drags out the heavy machinery to winnow out the chaff.
But authoritative? Back in my early days on the farm, I wrote a self-help piece that was plagiarized by a bonafide psychologist on her very 'authoritative' site. The work of the peasant was passed off as her own. The work of a backwater hayseed (me) spooned out and served up by a professional, the kind of site Google hopes to grant authority.
So go ahead, Google something - how to do something, help for a home project, hobby, or a new passing fancy. You will find authoritative sites by commercial interests, companies, and corporations who exist to sell you a product. That is not information, that is advertising.
Remember Alta Vista? Once a font of information, they went commercial - do they even exist anymore?
Sometimes those little people on the content farms know something. They research and write some pretty good articles with unique content and info, giving you a helpful introduction to a topic. Sure, they rub elbows with jerks and copy-cats. I guess we are known by the company we keep.
But authoritative? When I go into Home DePot, I get my best advise from other costumers.
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