Content Creator Software a Waste of Time ?
A summary of the misleading claims made by Dr Andy Williams for his software, the Fat Content Creator which he claims shows a connection between high ranking pages on Google because of themed content and those that don’t rank highly.
Dr Williams software claims
Dr Williams content creator software is designed to enable a user to improve the themed content of a web page using Latent Symantec Indexing or LSI.
LSI or themeing, is a process used by Google and other search engines to look not just for main keyphrases in a page, but also other words it would expect to find associated with those words and phrases.
He claims by using his article content creator software, that he has shown top 10 ranking pages on Google rank well because they contain themed web page content, when compared to similar pages ranked outside the top 800.
He has produced two pdf case studies and a video that support his claim, with the objective to persuade the viewer to buy his article content creator course and / or his article content software.
When asked about his claim, Dr Andy a published SEO expert replied:
"All I am showing is that there is a correlation between top pages, and well-themed content (which there is), and I am using my tool to do that."
When asked if he would like to open our discussion to the wider SEO community, to see if they would agree with his views, Dr Williams declined, but replied:
"I believe, with all other things being equal, a page of content that is well themed, will outperform one that isn't well-themed.”
In order to make things equal Dr Williams chose pages with a similar low page rank from the top 10 on Google to compare them with similarly low page rank pages outside the top 800. This was in an effort to compare like with like in so far as PR was concerned.
He also chose pages of low PR generally below 3 to avoid the influence of rank boosting effects of incoming page links which might give higher PR pages a boost in the rankings.
Dr Andy on pages that don't agree with his results
When presented with pages that didn’t fit with his own published results he replied:
"Keyword stuffing at its best. If this page is ever inspected by Google, I am sure it would be penalised."
In fact the page was last modified Aug 17, 2007 and Google had not seen fit to penalize its No.6 ranking even after almost 12 months.
For another page the quality theme score indicated by his content creator software dropped from 63.3% to 42.4% just on changing one word !
Dr Williams replied:
“The article has all the symptoms of keyword stuffing, especially since the content is so long.”
The article was actually less than 800 words, hardly long by any standards. It also had a keyword density less than 3% so not keyword stuffed either.
In his own video case study one page he chose had 6,304 words, but he didn’t consider that too long !
When presented with another page that did not fit his theory Dr Williams wrote:
"Comparing this page to a page of basically written content is just not right."
This page had over 200 words of content, excluding menu and link texts and had a Google ranking of 10 with a PR of 3, so it should have fitted his theory.
The Video
Dr Williams in his video “Does Google Really Rank Well-Themed Content Higher ?” uses his Content Creator software and the keyphrase "liver detox" to show how pages in the top 10 rankings of Google ranked better because of themeing - when compared to similar pages outside the top 800.
When I repeated his video example I also looked at pages in the top 10, but unlike Dr Williams I also looked at pages outside the top 30, 50, 100 and 200. I also did a statistical correlation analysis on the results.
There was NO strong or consistent correlation, between pages ranking on Google and themed content results produced by his software.
In fact there was a closer correlation between a page’s ranked position on Google and its Alexa ranking.
One page that ranked 106 was better themed according to Dr Williams content creator software than a page ranked on Google at position 8. Clearly this did not match his theory and they both had a PR 1.
His claims strongly imply that his software can help you achieve a better ranking with Google for your pages – Otherwise why else would you purchase it ?
I gave Dr Williams two opportunities to modify his claims such that they would not mislead a potential buyer. His only concession was to add disclaimers to his video and published case studies.
Dr Williams chose to maintain his claim
So I chose to publish my findings
Tony Simpson
web page optimization
Making Your Website Work for You
My version of Dr Williams Disclaimer:
This web page is not meant to provide definitive proof, that Dr Andy Williams is deliberately making false and misleading claims with his software it merely highlights some of the compelling research I have done on this topic.
By challenging Dr Williams I am NOT saying themed content is unimportant. What I am saying is Dr Williams has NOT proven a valid connection between top 10 ranking pages on Google and themeing results from his software.
Eventually after much evidence he admitted he had not proven a strong correlation between top 10 ranking pages on Google and themed content when compared to low ranking pages. However he was not prepared to change the claims in his video that imply he has proven it.
All he did was add a disclaimer.
Who am I, to challenge Dr Andy Williams ?
I am someone who has 8 years of experience on the net, 5 years of those spent in search engine optimization or SEO.
Do I have something personal against Dr Williams - No !
Do I have something against people who make misleading claims - Yes !
The Claim Dr Williams makes for his software
His claim is that by using his article content creator software he has shown that there is a strong connection between top 10 ranking pages on Google and well themed web page article / content.
He has also produced a video and two downloadable pdf case studies which support his claim, with the objective presumably to persuade the viewer to buy his article content creator course and/or his article content software.
Dr Andy's SEO Challenge
When Dr Williams, a published 'SEO Expert,' was asked if he would like to open our discussion to the wider SEO community, to see if they would agree more with my views on our correspondence so far, or agree more with his views.
Dr Williams declined
Can I prove his claims are false / misleading Yep !
Can Google prove his claims are false / misleading Yep !
Although Dr Williams finally, after 5 days and almost 9,000 words of dialogue, agreed he had NOT proved a connection between the results produced by his software and high ranking pages on Google, his published materials and video still strongly imply that he has proven such a connection.
Does Google Really Rank Well-Themed Content Higher ?
In his video of the same title, Dr Andy Williams analyzed pages to show there was a correlation between high ranking pages and the analysis results his software produced.
When asked if he still stood by this claim Dr Andy replied:
"Yes and I still do."
Dr Williams Odd Definition of Content
Dr Williams maintained you should only use his "Content" Creator software on articles. In fact when asked if this meant users of his software could only use it on their pages if they have his definition of "content."
Dr Andy Williams replied:
"YES. This is an ARTICLE EDITOR."
When asked about pages Dr Williams chose in his video he replied:
"I carefully chose the articles, because they were just that - ARTICLES"
So what this could mean to any user of his Content Creator is that you can only use his software on pages that contain "Articles," and NOT on pages that contain "Content."
Confused yet ?
So this means his Content Creator should really be called an Article Creator because it doesn't work on content, just articles - hmm!
Now it's Clear
Dr Williams theory of well themed pages gaining high ranking on Google only works for carefully chosen pages that contain articles.
This must mean Google is very clever, it can tell if a page contains an article and not content and if the article is themed well, rank it highly - Wow!
Dr Andy Williams - The Video
In Dr Williams video he used his Content Creator software and the keyphrase "liver detox" to show how pages in the top 10 rankings of Google ranked better because of themeing - when compared to similar pages outside the top 800.
Dr. Williams was careful to point out that he only chose pages with a low Google page rank. He did this to avoid the influence of other ranking factors like incoming links, or link popularity that would boost a page's ranking. The average rank of the pages he chose was 2.67.
I repeated his test but got very different results
I used the same keyphrase, the top 10 ranking pages and his exact keyword list. The average page rank of my randomly chosen pages was 2.
This PR is less than his and therefore by his assertion, even less likely to be influenced by ranking factors other than just semantic themeing.
Unlike Dr Williams who only looked at pages ranked in the top 10 of Google and outside the top 800, I also looked at pages in the top 10 and also outside the top 30, 50, 100 and 200.
I also did a statistical correlation analysis on the results, to see if there was any statistically valid correlation between his software's themeing report results and the ranking of a page on Google.
There was NO convincing correlation.
What correlation there was also varied significantly depending on what result from his software was chosen.
There was NO strong or consistent correlation, between ranking
and the themed content results produced by his software.
Outside Top 100 on Google, but better themed than a page Rank 8 !
One page outside the top 100, according to ALL the results of Dr Andy Williams software was better themed than a page with a Google ranking of 8.
Clearly, this page had better themeing according to his Content Creator, than a page ranked at position 8, but is ranked outside the top 100 on Google.
The page ranked 106 had better semantic themeing
but that didn't help it rank in Google's Top 10 !
Outside Top 50 on Google, but better themed than a page Rank 8 !
Here's another example page ranked by Google at 52 that's better themed according to ALL the themed results of the Content Creator software.
Notice also that as well as being themed better the page ranked 52 has a PR4 which should have given it a further boost up the rankings, but didn't.
Outside Top 50 on Google, but better themed than a page Rank 3 !
Another example is the page ranked by Google at 52 that's better themed according to ALL except ONE themed result than a page ranked at 3.
Also keep in mind I did not go looking for examples to disprove Dr Williams claim that better themeing of content produces better rankings on Google.
I used his own video example of "liver detox" to get these results
I have no doubt, that if I spent more time on this research I could find dozens more examples like these that conflict with Dr Williams claims and the results from his content creator software.
Dr Williams Refuses Olive Branch
When Dr Williams was asked if he was prepared to modify his published claims for the product/s in question, such that no one would be led to believe what he presently claimed, he gave no reply.
Following our correspondence, on July 30th, 2008 he put a disclaimer in his downloadable case studies and video which was not present before.
His added Disclaimer reads:
Disclaimer: This video is not meant to provide definitive proof, it merely highlights some of the compelling research I have done on this topic.
Note in this disclaimer the use of the word "some." The "some" suggests to the reader this is only part of his research, that there is some more.
When Dr Williams was asked how many pages he had tested to make his assertion statistically valid, he gave no answer.
Does this suggest to you he has some more research to support his claims ?
Note in this disclaimer the use of the word "compelling."
Do you find his research compelling ?
Dr Andy Williams runs a Research Lab and has many subscribers to his newsletter ezSEO offering tutorials, news, advice on SEO and other topics. I was one of those subscribers for 3 years. He also has a number of other software titles to his credit like KRA Pro which uses some of his other software.
Benefit of Doubt
At first I was prepared to give Dr. Williams the benefit of doubt, that he had made an innocent mistake. That he was not deliberately attempting to mislead his readers, existing customers or potential buyers of his products.
Dr Williams was twice offered the opportunity to modify or clarify his published and misleading claims, he did not.
Dr Williams Stopped me Checking his Claims !
By giving me a refund for his software that I did not ask for, Dr Williams has removed me from his software license server.
He has prevented me using his software
to investigate any existing or future claims he makes
His software checks to see if you are a registered user and will only allow use of the software if you are a registered user. By giving me a refund he has removed me from his license server and I can now no longer use his software to check his claims.
Does Dr Williams have something to Hide ?
If Dr Williams has nothing to hide why would he prevent me using his software to check his existing and future claims ?
I would like to be able to prove him right, then we could all get top 10 rankings in Google by using his software ... all other things being equal.
I leave you to judge if you think he has nothing to hide or that his intentions were or still are to deliberately mislead.
Business Ethics
If you feel it's perfectly OK just because it's the Internet to make false and/or misleading claims just to make money then clearly we are very different in our thinking and honesty.
If you feel you can publish deliberately misleading information in order to make money and cover yourself with a disclaimer, then clearly we have different standards when it comes to doing business, on or off the Internet.
I was surprised he could not accept that his published claims were likely to mislead people. Particularly when you consider his credentials as operator of the Keyword Research Lab, his Doctorate and his reputation.
I am sure some people would buy his product believing that it would help them to achieve a top 10 ranking for pages on Google.
This is despite the recently added disclaimer to his video and case studies, which I might add he only included as a result of my findings.
Claiming a Refund
If you are someone who bought the Creating Fat Content Course or the Fat Content Creator software, you are probably wasting a lot of your time if you believed the claims made by Dr Williams in his video and case studies.
You might even want to go so far as to claim a refund on the basis that you bought it believing the claims implied by Dr Andy Williams.
His claims strongly imply that his software would help you get a top ranking for your pages with Google - Why else would you buy it ?
If you bought this Content Creator software because you just wanted an article editor, then fine, that's what you got. But there are many article editors you could get for free.
If you do make a refund claim and he refuses to give it, do write to me and let me know. Or even if he gives you a refund, I would still be interested to know. Just click my Help button at the top left of this page.
He gave me a refund and I didn't even ask for one!
Axe Grinding
If you're wondering if I have some axe to grind with Dr Williams, the answer is No. I just bought his software like anyone else, except unlike most other people, I am an experienced SEO, who was sceptical of his claims.
I discovered when using his software that results from his software did not meet his published or implied claims.
I gave Dr Williams two opportunities to modify his claims such that they would not mislead a potential buyer on pain of publishing my findings.
Dr Williams chose to continue with his claim
And I chose to publish my findings
Sorry Andy, but you were given two chances to change your claim !
Dr Williams wrote in his ezSEO newsletter to subscribers:
"Not everyone agrees with my ideas. I had a bit of a run-in with someone last weekend, who took exception to my theme reports and videos and suggested that there was absolutely no correlation between themeing and how well a page ranked."
Yes and I proved to him there wasn't
The "run-in" was with me
At NO POINT did I suggest to Dr Williams that I did not agree with his ideas regarding themed content or LSI.
Where we disagreed was with his misrepresentation of his software results and his implied claim in his video and case studies that there is a correlation to top 10 rankings on Google.
I also never said there was absolutely no correlation
What I said was
"I have also done a correlation analysis on the results, to see if there is any statistical correlation between your software results and the ranking of a page and there is no convincing correlation."
In fact there was more of a correlation to the
Alexa Rank a page had than to Dr WIlliams results
However Dr Williams did write:
"All I am showing is that there is a correlation between top pages, and well-themed content (which there is), and I am using my tool to do that."
But by his own admission he finally agreed he could not prove his claims when he wrote:
"Can I prove it? Nope."
Here's what Searchenginenews.com had to say recently about Latent Semantic Indexing ( themeing ) and how search engines rank top pages now:
"While Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is indeed something that's implemented in varying degrees by many search engines (including Google) most of what you hear about it through many SEO outlets is just plain hype."
Dr Williams may not have access to our correspondence
If you are wondering how I know exactly what Dr Williams and I discussed it was all done in writing using his Support Desk.
This kept a record of all the evidence I submitted to him over a period of 5 days and all the replies he gave to the questions and points I raised.
Dr Williams may be relying upon memory ..... I am not !
Dr Williams deleted all our correspondence
from his Support Desk
Perhaps he deleted our 9,000 word correspondence to prevent any records being available for me to refer to if I published my findings. But you must draw your own conclusions. Fortunately I already copied the entire dialogue.
All this could have been avoided
I also would never have gone to all the trouble of producing this report if Dr Williams had been prepared to modify his claims given the over whelming evidence that was presented to him.
I have nothing to gain by writing this expose. I'm not trying to convince you to buy my products, or trying to convince you not to buy his.
It is up to you who you believe online and whose products or services you buy and whether you believe my account of events or you believe Dr Williams.
It makes no difference to me,
but it could make a difference to you !
Dr. Andy Williams of the Keyword Research Lab ( keywordresearchlab.com ), author of the ezSEO newsletter ( ezseonews.com ), sells a number of software titles and courses one of which the Creating Fat Content Course ( creatingfatcontent.com ) makes use of a software called the Fat Content Creator.
SearchEngineNews.com, has been the premier source of Marketing and Optimization Strategies for the Professional SEO since 1997.