Statistics Suggest That Triond Can Survive Google Panda

Despite all the gloom and doom being preached about Triond’s dwindling traffic the very statistics that show that Triond is in bad shape right now also give a glimmer of hope. Ever since Google ‘s Panda or Farmer Update that rolled out in late February 0f 2011 and the more worldwide effects of this from April 11th onwards, content farms like Triond and others seem to be going in a downward spiral. However, there are some interesting facts that come out of Compete.com’s statistics as they relate to Triond and its partner sites’ traffic. Those who are saying “May-day, May-day” need to look at May’s statistics.

(1)   Before you say May-day check out May’s statistics

In February 2011 Triond got 474,819 unique visits out of a total of 875,596 total visits. After the Google Panda Update it fell to 375,567 out of 631,280 in March. In April it further fell to 283,815 out of 479,029 visits. Here comes the glimmer of hope. In May there was an upsurge as Triond got 475,542 unique visits and the total visits to Triond was 654,982, almost 200,000 more than the previous month. Remember this was after the Google Panda Update so this shows that all is not lost. May’s statistics are testimony to what can be achieved in the aftermath of Google’s algorithm change. Of course there was a decline in visits in the following two months as the gains were not sustained but that does not take away from the fact that May’s visits were higher than that of March or April or that May’s unique visits were also higher than that of February 2011 or even August and September of 2010 before the algorithm change.

(2)  Socyberty got increased traffic in May 2011!

Two of the most successful Triond sites at present are Socyberty and Gameolosophy. Socyberty went from 226,314 total visits in April to a whopping 673,379 visits in May 2011 – an increase of more than 400,000 visits! Based on the available statistics nowhere in the period August 2010 to April 2011 did it reach anywhere close to that.

(3)  The May Quality Challenge is not necessarily the reason for the upsurge in traffic in that month

Now, it might be argued that May was the month of the “May Quality Challenge” and many writers were scurrying to write articles to get their bonuses. The following is a snippet of Triond’s advertisement of the May Quality Challenge:

“So here’s the drill: we will give away $5 for each article of the top 100 that will generate the highest average viewing time.” (See http://blog.triond.com/2011/05/02/announcing-may-2011-quality-challenge/ for the full blog details).

However, to say that the much maligned May Quality Challenge was responsible for the upsurge in traffic in May does not explain why Relijournal, a site with relatively low traffic, a site that is never mentioned with respect to bonuses and monthly challenges, also experienced an increase in site visits in that month although the Panda Update had already been in effect. Relijournal’s total visits increased by almost 8000 in March with 31,671 visits. It fell slightly in April garnering 29,893 visits. It then rose to 33,151 visits in May. The increase is small but it shows the potential for growth in the aftermath of Google’s Panda Update. The figures for June and July fell terribly to 17,281 and 12,661 respectively but the May figure shows that there is hope. It must be highlighted again that Relijournal was left out of the May Quality Challenge so that challenge had nothing to do with Relijournal’s gains in May.

(4)   Gameolosophy has been making strides

Before Google’s Panda Update Gameolosophy was experiencing a meteoric rise from 218,331 total visits in September 2010 to 512,315 visits in March. Every month in that period Gameolosophy had uninterrupted success as it rose steadily. Due to Google’s Update it fell to 362,279 visits in April then 245,200 in May but it is on its way back up again judging from its 249,532 visits in June and 281,470 visits in July. Right now no Triond site has more traffic than Gameolosophy. (See The Traffic of Triond’s Sites (A Must Read)) 

(5) Update the policy on Duplicate Content

Triond allows duplicate content once Triond publishes the original. It has long been said that Google frowns on duplicate content. Perhaps Triond believes that Google will frown on the later version of your article and not on the original but there are those that feel that Google penalizes the article that comes from the lesser-ranked site. However, strange enough, an article can be published  on Triond and then on Wikinut and the Wikinut version will sometimes rank higher than the original although Triond is more established and has a higher PageRank. While it is always more convenient to republish articles on sites that allow it like Wikinut, how does Google see it? Due to the panda Update Hubpages is updating their policies. Triond should too. See http://www.terrydidcott.com/web-2-0/hub-pages-change-their-rules-in-reponse-to-googles-updat/  After all, it will be a whole lot easier tracking down plagiarism if Triond does not allow the article to be anywhere else.

(6)   Deal with Spam, inappropriate content and low quality articles

Triond needs to deal with spam, inappropriate content and low quality material. A chain is as strong as its weakest link. Spammers, we already have Google Ads and Triond Ads, We do not need irrelevant Trionders’ Ads too.  I am thankful for the flag button. I have at times cringed due to the photos used by others exhibited next to my work. Writers need to be comfortable about sharing their work without being embarrassed by the content of others. If it is that we are so dependent on Google’s traffic we should comply with Google’s rules. It is as simple as that. Of course the higher motive must be morality but it seems that we cannot expect that from everyone.

(7) Lessen the number of Social Bookmarking sites in the Content Section

Do you know that there are 328 social bookmarking sites in Triond’s Content Section where it says “Share?” We do not want to be ungrateful for this resource but more is not always better. Since it is not automated you cannot possibly use all for one solitary article and there are some concerns as to whether Google frowns on automation as well. Why not whittle the number down to about twenty (which is still plenty by the way) only including the high traffic ones? Sometimes time is wasted with low traffic sites. Newbies would not know that many of the sites there are not in the top twenty sites that have the most traffic. They should be exposed to mainly Twitter, Stumbleupon, Delicious, Reddit, Digg, Facebook, Tweetmeme, Clipmarks, Mixx, Newsvine, Diigo, Blinklist, Friendfeed and the like. When more people do well the site benefits from visits so take out the non-performing bookmarking sites.

(8) Vijayanths brilliant suggestion – Consolidation

Very recently Vijayanths made the suggestion that Triond should have one site only instead of twenty-four different sites. (See http://writinghood.com/writing/triond-publishing-articles-on-a-network-of-niche-websites-is-it-a-good-idea/) Triond would presumably have a higher PageRank as all the articles would be hosted on Triond.com. Why I like this idea is that with the exception of Socyberty, all of Triond’s sites have a PageRank of 4 or less. Some have a PageRank of 3 and one has a PageRank of 2. All of Triond’s sites also have less traffic than Triond itself. If Triond has just a single website at the barest minimum we would be writing on a site which has a PageRank of 5 and the traffic would increase dramatically. Instead of running twenty-four sites in addition to Triond they would be able to focus on one site instead of spreading themselves thin. 

(9)  There is too great a reliance on Google

No doubt about it Google is king. However, should we be so reliant on Google? Have we made a god out of Google? Before there was Google there was Yahoo that is still influential. Bing is one of the top search engines. Facebook itself, while not a search engine, it is ranked second in the world in terms of traffic. It is time to find a way to harness the great potential of these sites. 

Let us realize that it is being said that Hubbers from the once mighty Hubpages are leaving in droves due to many of the same complaints that we have in the Triond community. They also were hit hard by the Google Panda Update but the management there is making changes to counteract the ill effects felt due to it. What is clear is that for Triond to ride out the storm there must be changes right away. The statistics show that it is possible for Triond to progress despite Google’s algorithm change. Progress, however, has a process. Ironically change never comes without changes. 

Do you want to write online? Why not join Triond as my referral here:

Triond – Publish Writing, Poetry, Music, Video & Content Online 

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See Triond The Way It Was in 2006!

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Do you want to write online? Why not join Triond as my referral here:

Triond – Publish Writing, Poetry, Music, Video & Content Online