Content farm
Encyclopedia
In the context of the World Wide Web
, the term content farm is used to describe a company that employs large numbers of often freelance writers to generate large amounts of textual content which is specifically designed to satisfy algorithm
s for maximal retrieval by automated search engines
. Their main goal is to generate advertising revenue through attracting reader page view
s as first exposed in the context of social spam.
Articles in content farms have been found to contain identical passages across several media sources, leading to questions about the sites placing search engine optimization
goals over factual relevance. Proponents of the content farms claim that from a business perspective, traditional journalism is inefficient. Content farms often commission their writers' work based on analysis of search engine
queries that proponents represent as "true market demand", a feature that traditional journalism
lacks.
is projected to be publishing 1 million items a month, the equivalent of four English-language Wikipedias a year. Another site, Associated Content
, was purchased in May 2010 by Yahoo!
for $90 million.
Pay scales for content are low compared to traditional salaries received by copy editors. One company compensated writers at a rate of $3.50 per article. Such rates are substantially lower than what a typical copy editor might receive; however, some content farm contributors produce many articles per day and may earn enough for a living income. It has been reported that content writers are often educated women with children seeking supplemental income while working at home.
industry and to pollution:
's promotional videos for search published in the summer of 2010, the majority of the links available were reported to be produced at content farms. In late February, 2011, Google announced it was adjusting search algorithms significantly to "provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on." This was reported to be a reaction to content farms and an attempt to reduce their effectiveness in manipulating search result rankings.
While not explicitly motivated by content farms, there has been recent interest in the automatic categorisation of web sites according to the quality of their content. A detailed study on the application of these methods to the identification of content farm pages is yet to be done.
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
, the term content farm is used to describe a company that employs large numbers of often freelance writers to generate large amounts of textual content which is specifically designed to satisfy algorithm
Algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
s for maximal retrieval by automated search engines
Web search engine
A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. The search results are generally presented in a list of results often referred to as SERPS, or "search engine results pages". The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other...
. Their main goal is to generate advertising revenue through attracting reader page view
Page view
A page view or page impression is a request to load a single HTML file of an Internet site. On the World Wide Web a 'page' request would result from a web surfer clicking on a link on another 'page' pointing to the 'page' in question. This should be contrasted with a hit, which refers to a...
s as first exposed in the context of social spam.
Articles in content farms have been found to contain identical passages across several media sources, leading to questions about the sites placing search engine optimization
Search engine optimization
Search engine optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid search results...
goals over factual relevance. Proponents of the content farms claim that from a business perspective, traditional journalism is inefficient. Content farms often commission their writers' work based on analysis of search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
queries that proponents represent as "true market demand", a feature that traditional journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
lacks.
Characteristics
Some sites labeled as content farms may contain a large number of articles and have been valued in the millions of dollars. Demand MediaDemand Media
Demand Media, Inc. is an online media company and content farm that operates online brands such as eHow, and Cracked, and is known for creating online content through its Demand Media Studios division based on a combination of measured consumer demand and predicted ROI...
is projected to be publishing 1 million items a month, the equivalent of four English-language Wikipedias a year. Another site, Associated Content
Associated Content
Associated Content is a division of Yahoo that focuses on online publishing. Yahoo's Associated Content distributes a large variety of writing through its website and content partners, including Yahoo News.-History:...
, was purchased in May 2010 by Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
for $90 million.
Pay scales for content are low compared to traditional salaries received by copy editors. One company compensated writers at a rate of $3.50 per article. Such rates are substantially lower than what a typical copy editor might receive; however, some content farm contributors produce many articles per day and may earn enough for a living income. It has been reported that content writers are often educated women with children seeking supplemental income while working at home.
Criticisms
Critics allege that content farms provide relatively low quality content, and that they maximize profit by producing "just good enough" material rather than high-quality articles. Articles are usually composed by human writers rather than automated processes, but they may not be written by a specialist in the subjects reported. Some authors working for sites identified as content farms have admitted knowing little about the fields on which they report. Search engines see content farms as a problem, as they tend to bring the user to less relevant and lower quality results of the search. The reduced quality and rapid creation of articles on such sites has drawn comparisons to the fast foodFast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
industry and to pollution:
Google reaction
In one of GoogleGoogle
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
's promotional videos for search published in the summer of 2010, the majority of the links available were reported to be produced at content farms. In late February, 2011, Google announced it was adjusting search algorithms significantly to "provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on." This was reported to be a reaction to content farms and an attempt to reduce their effectiveness in manipulating search result rankings.
Research
Because of their recent appearance on the Web, content farms have not yet received a lot of explicit attention from the research community. The model of hiring cheap freelancers to produce content was first discussed as an alternative strategy to generating fake content automatically, together with an example of the infrastructure necessary to make it profitable through online ads, and techniques to detect social spam that promotes such content.While not explicitly motivated by content farms, there has been recent interest in the automatic categorisation of web sites according to the quality of their content. A detailed study on the application of these methods to the identification of content farm pages is yet to be done.
See also
- Search engine optimizationSearch engine optimizationSearch engine optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid search results...