According to unconfirmed reports, Google is rolling out a new algorithm update for its search results. Dubbed as "phantom" - named after its ghost-like appearance - this new update is primarily impacting tutorial and "how-to" content. A significant number of large and important websites have seen a significant drop in traffic over the past couple of weeks. Since Bloggers are first to write HowTO tutorials, this penalty is the worst of its form and will massively effect traffic of blogs which are involved in tutorial writing. So what is this update and is it significant?
HubPages is a large collection of almost a million mini-blogs containing informational content about a wide variety of topics. Since May 3, it has seen its Google search traffic drop by 22 percent within a week. Websites like eHow, WikiHow, and Answers.com are other sites that have seen significant drops in traffic over the past couple of weeks.
Although Google has not yet acknowledged this update, experts believe that this update is not related to Panda or Penguin. However, similar types of “thin” content targeted by Panda are also being targeted by this update. Sites with an abundance supplementary information, pages of stacked videos, and pages difficult to navigate have all lost visibility in recent weeks.
This update is said to be “ruthless” in its approach - apparently having no problem punishing entire domains for a few instances of thin content.
“When you have a domain-level algorithm update or ranking change, it can impact the whole site… Pages that should be drawing well could also be pulled down in the results.”
Google has not formally commented on this update, although at SMX Sydney this week Gary Illyes, from Google’s Webmaster Trends team, alluded to there being a recent change that’s part of a core algorithm update.
With Google’s Knowledge Graph being notorious for detracting traffic from sites for “how to” searches, coupled with this “Phantom” update, being a content publisher is more challenging than ever. Experts admits to not being able to predict what business will look like tomorrow, next week, next month, etc.
Have you noticed a significant change in your traffic since the beginning of May? If so, what types of content do you believe was targeted? Let us know in the comments section below!
