Marketing Pilgrim Published: “Disruptive Demand Media Fights Disruptive Third Party Claims” plus 2 more

Link to Marketing Pilgrim - Internet News & Opinion

Disruptive Demand Media Fights Disruptive Third Party Claims
Yahoo’s Digg Clone Never Lived Up To the Buzz, Shuts Down
Google Tags Tagged for Extinction

Disruptive Demand Media Fights Disruptive Third Party Claims

Posted: 18 Apr 2011 07:54 AM PDT

If you ever read any corporately generated content from content farm poster child, Demand Media, it won't take long before you see the word disruptive. Here is the first sentence from content.demandmedia.com

Demand Media is a disruptive online media company. We’re doing things differently. And while we respect media’s heritage deeply, we respect its evolutionary potential even more.

Well, it looks like Demand's world is being disrupted as well from the recent Google Panda update. In a post from this past weekend, Larry Fitzgibbon, Demand's EVP of Media and Operations, was more or less forced to respond to some third party 'data' (from the company Sistrix who is making a name for its relatively unknown self by producing these Demand Media 'insights') that claimed that the recent Panda update in its many iterations really hurt the content farm machine and was rather disruptive to Demand's bread and butter which is Google traffic.

As I said in my prior post, we generally do not comment or speculate on changes by major search engines, as these changes can happen nearly daily. However, recent third-party reports attempting to estimate the impact to our search driven traffic, including one projecting a 2/3rds decline in eHow.com traffic, are so significantly overstated that we decided to comment.

It's so annoying when your day is disrupted by bad content, isn't it? It's so disruptive that you have to comment. Many might say that Demand is getting a taste of its own medicine since there are often complaints about the accuracy of Demand's content that can clutter up search results on a day-to-day basis.

Marketing Pilgrim’s SEO Channel is sponsored by SEOmoz, the leading provider of SEO tools and resources. Take a 30-day free trial, and see why over 10,000 marketers currently use SEOmoz PRO

So to be fair, let's let Mr. Fitzgibbon elaborate on how this whole thing is impacting the company. Of course, Demand is now being held to a higher standard of sorts as a public company that people have invested in based on the presumption that Demand can weather this kind of storm without it impacting the bottom line. It's a bit different than being the private company that didn't have to say anything about anything to anyone of they did not want to.

As a disruptive digital media and technology company, we have been operating in a fast moving environment since the company's founding five years ago. While change is frequent, one thing is certain – Demand Media is steadfast in our commitment to produce great outcomes for our consumers, advertisers and community of creative professionals. We're in the trenches listening, learning, adapting and innovating – and we are very excited about the opportunity in front of us. We look forward to providing details on all of these topics and more in our previously announced conference call at 5:00pm (Eastern) May 5th, 2011 to discuss first quarter 2011 financial results.

Good to see the Mr. Fitzgibbon is toting the company's disruptive line so vigorously. As noted by ZDNet as well it’s going to take several quarters to see just how damaging the Panda update will be to Demand’s business.

Honestly, it is tiring having to give Demand Media and other noted (some would say notorious) content farms any attention at all. In the end though the story line for this company is one that SEO's in particular have to be very cognizant of. Everyone is trying to figure out (as they always have in the past as well) what the latest and greatest tolerances are for the Grand Poobah of Algorithms. One of the ways of doing that is see companies like Demand Media shift in the winds that Google creates.

In the end, many say it's just a matter of writing the best content at all times. While in theory that sounds beautiful and utopian the reality of the SERPs often tells a grittier and more realistic view which is that oftentimes content that is rank still ranks well.

So we'll continue to watch just how Demand fights off disruptive algorithm changes in its quest to continue to disrupt the media world with its quantity over quality approach to content. How it will turn out isn't really the concern because the search reality of today often becomes the search history of tomorrow as quickly as you can say disruptive.

Yahoo’s Digg Clone Never Lived Up To the Buzz, Shuts Down

Posted: 18 Apr 2011 06:54 AM PDT

I recall the hype surrounding Yahoo Buzz, when it first launched.

Those publishers that were lucky enough to get in on the beta, told stories of massive traffic surges, unicorns, and puppies. Those on the outside, were left wondering when they would get a piece of the traffic pie.

By the time Yahoo Buzz launched to the masses, the traffic spikes had evaporated–an expected dilution when you open the flood gates to all blogs. A fact, I noted at the time…

Now, before you get dizzy with excitement, you might want to temper your expectations. Marketing Pilgrim joined Yahoo Buzz, late in the beta–actually about 3 weeks ago. Despite adding big buttons to the bottom of each post, we've not seen any significant traffic from Yahoo Buzz.

I guess Yahoo Buzz was never able to sustain those early traffic spikes because less than 3 years on, Yahoo has announced the closing of Yahoo Buzz:

Yahoo! Buzz will be discontinued as of April 21, 2011. As of this date, you will be unable to access the Yahoo! Buzz site. This was a hard decision. However this will help us focus on our core strengths and new innovations.

And with that, the world is left wondering, just what is Yahoo’s core strength these days?

Google Tags Tagged for Extinction

Posted: 18 Apr 2011 05:41 AM PDT

No matter what kind or how large of company you are there is the reality that you are still a local company in many circumstances. Even large business-to-business companies have local offices that have a presence in Google, whether it is asked for or not (If you need proof just do a search for IBM and a major city qualifier (like 'IBM San Francisco’) and you'll see what I mean).

It's this focus on all things local that makes anything that Google does around their local efforts quite important. In just the last week or so the whole local play has been placed on the newly minted SVP, Jeff Huber, and already there is a change in one offering that Google was having some success in: the Google Tags product. Below is a picture of what you may see in the Google SERPs until the service is axed on April 29.

TechCrunch reports

Google sent an email today to merchants using the service notifying them that it will be shut down in two weeks on April 29. One tipster who sent us a copy of the email writes:

Seems google is killing this offering. Must be a part of the recent restructuring. It was doing pretty well for my company too, I'm pretty bummed about it.

The TechCrunch post goes on to take a swing as to why the Tags product will be nixed.

Tags was an experiment which led to a similar local advertising product called Boost which appears do be doing much better, judging by how much it is now appearing in search results. Boost ads are all of those blue-colored pushpins on Google Maps and in paid search results. Rather than linking to a website, an offer, or a menu, Boost highlights some listings information from Google Places such as an adress or phone number.

These are much more useful, especially in mobile search. Merchants don't want to drive clicks to their websites, they want to drive foot traffic to their stores or calls for their services.

Where the article goes next is where I disagree.

Also Boost is a very straightforward online advertising product.

Let's face it, for most local business owners or SMB's nothing that Google does is straightforward. Sure, it may make sense to say this is what it is and what it does but then we run into the DIY side of the equation and many SMB's will be stopped in their tracks.

Let's put it this way. In order to use Boost you must have a claimed and verified Google Place Page. Well, with about 15% of these pages verified (I am guessing here because the latest numbers I have is 10% verified from last September so I am assuming some uptick) and a much smaller percentage optimized. If that small of a percentage of pages have been verified then the idea that SMB's just 'get it' is not very realistic.

I have been told by experts in the local search game that Google feels that only 25% of the SMB market will go the self-service route. Now that is still a very large market so Google may be happy with that. Considering their aversion to real customer support it makes sense.

What about the other 75% of SMB's though who would love to understand how a service like Boost works? That will be dependent on who is giving them advice. Of course, Boost doesn't carry any type of pay out for someone "selling" it other than a Google rep. As a result, it will take a certain kind of consultant to be able to help a client to set up Boost then run with it.

So what happens with Google's local approach is something to keep a close eye on. It may be an indicator of how they are thinking about a lot of other areas of their business. Will many other 'experiments' be set aside and a concentration put on fewer things so one or more of them actually has a chance to get out of the first stage of the product life cycle?

Did you or any clients use Tags? Will anyone miss it? I know there are many merchants who felt it gave them a boost. Oh wait, maybe that's what they need to concentrate on next. After all, it's a pay per click product so they can spend more than the simple flat fee per month that Tags offered.

Hey, wait a minute? Is this just a way to make Google advertisers spend more? Of course it is! Would you expect any less?