Demand Media shares soar in IPO - Jan. 26, 2011
Demand’s Google problem (and vice versa): Demand articles are meant to appear high in search engine results — but Google has said that it is changing its algorithm to improve search results.
“We hear the feedback from the Web loud and clear: people are asking for even stronger action on content farms and sites that consist primarily of spammy or low-quality content,” the company said in a blog post last week.
Danny Sullivan, the editor of the Search Engine Land blog, said Google’s post “definitely cast a cloud over [Demand’s operations].”
“It wasn’t an execution order, but Google is definitely looking more closely at these content farms,” he added. “People have been complaining that search results are getting noisy. Demand says its content is good quality, but I’ve seen [mixed] results.”
The article also mentions that some business types admire the business model. But that’s like saying you admire telemarketers for their can-do attitude. Short-term, it creates a bubble. Long-term, it’s not meant to create anything valuable for anyone but the marketers.
Given the internet’s (relative) cheapness and permanence, I don’t have a lot of respect for that attitude. (Disclosure: I used to work at a legit content-oriented company acquired by Demand Media.)
