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Acontent farm orcontent mill is an organization, focused on generating a large amount of webcontent, often specifically designed to satisfyalgorithms for maximal retrieval bysearch engines, a practice known assearch engine optimization (SEO). Such organizations often employfreelance creators or useartificial intelligence (AI) tools, with the goal of generating high amounts of content for the lowest time and cost. The primary goal is to attract as manypage views as possible, and thus generate moreadvertising revenue.[1] The emergence of these media outlets is often tied to the demand for "true market demand" content based on search engine queries.[1]
Some content farms produce thousands of articles each month using freelance writers or AI tools. For example, in 2009,Wired reported thatDemand Media—owner ofeHow—was publishing one million items per month, the equivalent of four English-language Wikipedias annually.[2] Another notable example wasAssociated Content, purchased byYahoo! in 2010 for $90 million, which later becameYahoo! Voices before shutting down in 2014.[3][4]
Pay scales for writers at content farms are low compared to traditional salaries. For instance, writers may be compensated $3.50 per article, though some prolific contributors can produce enough content to earn a living.[5] Writers are often not experts in the topics they cover.[6]
Since the rise oflarge language models likeChatGPT, content farms have shifted towards AI-generated content. A report byNewsGuard in 2023 identified over 140 internationally recognized brands supporting AI-driven content farms.[7] AI tools allow these sites to generate hundreds of articles daily, often with minimal human oversight.[8]
Critics argue that content farms prioritize SEO and ad revenue over factual accuracy and relevance.[9] Critics also highlight the potential for misinformation, such as conspiracy theories and fake product reviews, being spread through AI-generated content.[10] Some have compared content farms to the fast food industry, calling them "fast content" providers that pollute the web with low-value material.[11] The word, "sponsored" when searching has raised questions on the reliability of the site as it was likely paid to be pushed to the top of the search options.[12]
Search engines likeGoogle have taken steps to limit the influence of content farms. In 2011, Google introduced theGoogle Panda update to lower the rankings of low-quality websites.[13] Other search engines, likeDuckDuckGo, have also implemented measures to block low-quality AI-driven sites.[14]