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Demand Media says Google change no big deal, yet

Kevin Murphy, February 25, 2011, 11:12:49 (UTC), Domain Registrars

Demand Media has said that recent changes to Google’s search engine algorithm does not appear to have had a material impact on its business.
Google said yesterday that it has changed its code to demote “sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful”.
This was widely interpreted as being designed to hit “content farms”, which make up one of Demand’s major revenue streams. The company also owns number two domain registrar eNom.
In a blog post, published less than four hours after Google announced the change, Demand executive vice president Larry Fitzgibbon wrote:

As might be expected, a content library as diverse as ours saw some content go up and some go down in Google search results… It’s impossible to speculate how these or any changes made by Google impact any online business in the long term – but at this point in time, we haven’t seen a material net impact on our Content & Media business.

It remains to be seen if the changes will have any impact on traffic and revenue at Demand, which recently executed an IPO, but Fitzgibbon played down the company’s focus on search traffic.
Demand also measures success based on metrics such as direct navigation, repeat visits and traffic from social media, he wrote.

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Comments (6)

  1. Joel says:

    Kind of hard to “measure” the affect inside of 4 hours (and that is when their post went up)… this obviously is a first strike preemptive approach… “Yea, huh – we are fine … we haven’t seen any changes.”
    The fact that they said it so early makes them look silly in my opinion. I would think they would say at the very least… “Ask me in a couple days” or something.

  2. SL says:

    I think Google will definitely reconsider now that Demand Media is offering a “content library” instead of a “content farm”.
    Sounds much more refined and erudite.

  3. theo says:

    there are no americans in iraq ! all lies all lies !
    We will crush the infidels !…..
    somehow i get a deja vu feeling…

  4. […] Demand Media says Google change no big deal, yet […]

  5. […] Demand Media says Google change no big deal, yet […]

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