This is a letter (two actually) written to my clients about the HIGHLY publicized “Farmer Update.” Never before have I been asked by my clients about a particular algorithm update… that’s how publicized this update was (and still is!)

—–Original Message—–
From: Keli Etscorn [mailto:keli@etscorn.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 2:25 PM
To: Joel
Subject: Google Farmer Update // Algo

You’re not the first to ask this [and probably won't be the last!]

I’m going to do a *cut and paste* of my answer that addresses the very same concerns and if you have ANY questions afterward, I’m a keyboard away.

PLEASE NOTE: By doing this *cut and paste* answer I am in NO WAY minimalizing your concerns AT ALL… you know I sleep and breath this industry Joel and as with many of my clients, this is their ONLY marketing they do.

—————————— ACTUAL CLIENT QUESTION ——————————
On 2/25/2011 3:10 PM, Don wrote:
> Has the changes to Google affected any of the store placement one way
> or the other?
>
> Don

Hi Don -

Not that I can tell from spot checking phrases. Keep in mind, Google makes ~400 changes a year to their algorithm. The reason why this update is getting SO MUCH PRESS is because of the very public outing of JCP, Forbes and Overstock. Huge companies were caught employing extremely spammy practices; practices against Google’s TOS. Since Google’s *algorithm that catches these practices* did NOT catch these very obvious spammy practices they’re scrambling around with their own press to do good PR [IMO]. This is the reason it’s so highly publicized and the reason I’ve been getting multiple E-mails from clients regarding this algorithm change (FYI clients NEVER E-mail or ask about algo changes…that’s how mainstream this algo change has become!)

If you ever want to keep your finger on the pulse of this industry with respect to the latest news feel free to follow my Twitter feed:

www.twitter.com/keliedotcom

you don’t even need an account to do this!

Thanks!
Keli
—————————— ACTUAL CLIENT QUESTION ——————————

So it’s just one of many updates that happen during the year… there was just more press to cover their *opps*.

This *outing* created a HUGE buzz in the SEO world… if you’d like to read about what exactly JCP was *busted* for you can Google:

JCP link practices
JCP farmer update
JCP spam

I’m sure those queries would bring up some gems! Within a week of the JCP’s incident Forbes was outed followed shortly by Overstock.com – all for the same ILLEGAL [to Google] practices. Remember! You can do ANYTHING you want to your Web site but to play in Google’s sandbox? You MUST play by their rules.

Keli