In the meantime, 1-2 weeks after the update, I decided to do my own Google searches to see how the results look when “content farms” have been removed from my search results.  To my surprise– a handful of  sites that get lumped into the “content farms” category are dominating Google results; did they actually get benefit from the update?  Specifically, I am seeing eHow.com and WikiHow.com dominating top 3-5  organic rankings for all types of informational searches.  Check out these random examples:

1. “Change oil in my car” – eHow #1, Wikihow #2
2. “Change a light bulb” – eHow #1, Wikihow #4
3. “How to raise a child” – Wikihow #1, eHow #4
4. “Change a car battery” – eHow #1, Wikihow #2
5. “How to backup my computer” – Wikihow #3, eHow #9
6. “How to treat a sprained ankle” – eHow #1, Wikihow #4

Based on these 6 brief sample searches, are you telling me that a car mechanic, electrician, parenting counselor, computer expert and physical therapist do not have more expertise & more “trust” than eHow and Wikihow?  Something is not right here.

Google still has a ways to go to make their subjective Farmer update effective; just as content marketers must evolve to stay in front of these issues so that they’re adding value to content ecosystem.

Now more than ever, there is an increased need for advanced strategy, execution and measurement in both Content Marketing and authority-based link building.  While Google is dropping the hammer on many sites for ‘gaming the system’,  brand marketers should/will place greater emphasis on trusted experts, legitimate effort and realizing that even in the age of the Internet, you still ‘get what you pay for’.

Top 10 Passwords to Avoid — source: Backupify:

1. Your partner, child or pet’s name; possibly followed by a “0″ or “1″
2. The last 4 digits of your social security number
3. 123; 1234; 123456
4. “Password”
5. Your city, college or sports team name
6. Date of birth (yours, your partner or child’s)
7. “God”
8. “Letmein”
9. “Money”
10. “Love”

Fortunately, many web programs now require you to include a capital letter, number &/or a symbol.  These provisions help to prevent ‘Internet newbies’ or ‘beginners’ from using very common, hacker-friendly passwords.

My advice is to come up with an obscure password, that you can use across many accounts; one that only you (and maybe your partner) would know.  Don’t cut corners as it can compromise both your personal & professional accounts — at the corporate level this is inexcusable!  For enterprise web marketing team, it is best to established master account handles/log-ins that are stored in a secure environment and only shared with immediate team members or trusted partners.  Maintain consistency with your naming conventions across your various accounts; otherwise, it is a logistical nightmare if an “in-the-know” employee leaves the company; you have change all account log-in credentials.

Strategy – This determines your targeted market segments, positioning, marketing channels to leverage, and allocation of resources.  As a marketer, your strategy should be closely linked to sales.  “Marketing strategy” is defined by Wikipedia as:

a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.

Execution – How well your strategy is carried out by those in your organization will determine the success of your overall web marketing process.  You can develop the best strategy in the world, but if execution is lacking, leadership & follow-up poor, or efforts carried out by the wrong people/technologies, all will be for naught.  Identifying experts in your organization or third-party providers who can help you ‘block and tackle’ based on the “plays called” (aka Strategy) will be essential to achieving positive results through the marketing channels you have targeted.  Ensure the right people are in the the right seats on the bus.  Just because a person understands keyword research and title tags, does not make them an enterprise SEO expert!  We all know there is a lot more to it than just that.

Measurement – It’s great to be a web marketer because we can measure nearly every aspect of our execution efforts.  As part of your strategy, ensure that you have set-up accurate report vehicles that can monitor the success of your desired actions.  It is important to have accurate tools in your arsenal including website analytics (with goal tracking in place), social monitoring, competitor/industry analysis, website user engagement and the ability to present & update a custom CMO-level dashboard.  As web marketers, it is our responsibility to measure the impact of our strategy execution, summarize the trends and accurately report such numbers to the C-Suite — which will drive your ability to “Analyze” the efforts.

Analysis – Once you have measured results (and the trending progress for month-over-month performance — this is a must!), you can then evaluate the positives and negatives of your team’s efforts.  This drives your forward-thinking strategy as you can eliminate under-performing channels, invest more time/money into strong ROI channels and/or expand into new avenues based on seasonality or niche-industry opportunity.

Rinse & Repeat on a monthly or quarterly basis.  If web marketing is your focus (as it most likely is if you are ready this post), I would recommend this type of process be managed on a recurring, monthly basis to ensure time tables, deadlines and business sensitive initiatives are always being met and exceeded.

When a team or collective group is on the same page, operating with a defined process, Strategy, Execution, Measurement & Analysis will be invaluable to your marketing department and the greater good of the business.  In addition, your Executive Team can rest better at night knowing that Marketing has controls & measures in place to ensure success.