Social Media, SEO and Spam
How Social Media, and Facebook in particular had better sit up a listen before it’s too late. The increase of ‘like farms’ and ‘like buying’ is skewing Facebook Search Results. But how will this affect your SEO?
Chris Crum of Web Pro News talks about the increase of “Like Farms” and “Like Buying” websites that have sprung up in order for people to manipulate Facebook Search Results.
The value of a ‘Like’ is not insignificant. When a user ‘Likes’ something it shows up on all of their friends’ news feeds. Their friend can then ‘like’ the content also, and the cycle continues. Within very little time a piece of content can be seen by millions of people. This kind of exposure is the stuff that dreams are made of for many businesses. The added benefit that the recommendation comes from a friend makes it even more powerful and compelling.
Well, on the face of it, a ‘like farm’ or ‘like buying’ site may offer some benefit for your website, insomuch as you can gain more exposure of a ‘word of mouth’ nature from such places. However, I suspect that it is only a matter of time before Facebook has to deal with this type of thing in order to maintain a level of trust in its search results.
Currently, the majority of people are still using Facebook for its intended purpose: connecting with their friends and family. But, the trend is set for more and more people to use it to find businesses, services and products. Indeed with the launch of Facebook Places not so long ago and with all the indications over the last few years that Facebook is set to compete directly with Google for a place in the Search market, it stands to reason that the social giant will have to incorporate an algorithm to combat bad ‘likes’ – just as Google does with ‘bad’ links!
From a user’s point of view, it’s really disconcerting to think that a ‘word of mouth’ recommendation from a ‘friend’ is nothing more than a bought vote!
The SEO impact is enormous. Google uses Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media sites in its SERPs, so the difference between a well ‘liked’ page or site and one that isn’t so well ‘liked’ will be even more significant.
Spamming, and I personally consider the use of a ‘like farm’ or ‘like buying’ site to be a form of spam, is never going to stand you in good stead for the future. It may take a while for Facebook to put measures in place to combat this negativity, but they will.
If you value the long term benefits of a well chosen, well placed keyword within the SERPs, don’t use ‘like farms’ or ‘like buying’ sites to manipulate your listings. There is no quick fix in SEO, there never has been, and there never will be!
P.S … Don’t forget to ‘Like’ this post!
September 14th, 2010
Facebook indeed is spammer’s playground. Twitter being another very widely targeted social media for link exposure including that from Google’s real time search results.
in response, what would be your suggestion for guarding against such link farming in social networking sites?