As if Thumbnail gallery post (TGP) operators don’t already have enough to worry about, Google’s latest update crushed many TGP sites’ SERPS.  Thumbnail Gallery posts are adult sites that shows either short text descriptions or thumbnails that go to adult content galleries.  Usually, when you click the link or thumb, a certain percentage of them redirects you to another site.  That is how these sites exchange traffic.

Speculation abounds at many adult webmaster forums as to the reason for this downgrade.  Some point to smart thumbs’ coding.  Others point to Google’s increasingly strident focus on original content.   Even others point to the issue that most TGPs don’t really have much content–they just redirect traffic from one site to another.  Regardless of the reason, this recent fiasco might yet be another nail in the coffin of the once dominant promotions model for adult content on the Internet.  TGPs used to rule the online porn landscape.  Now they are threatened by the rise of tube sites which don’t feature pictures but videos.  And not just any video.  Full length videos.  Few of these tube sites redirect traffic.

This isn’t the first time there’s a ‘changing of the guard’ in online adult content promotion.  The first adult sites called “circle jerk” sites (CJ) merely traded clicks between sites.  If a user enters one site and clicks a link, he is automatically redirected to another site… aftter getting hit with a ton of popups.  After CJs came the TGPs and adult “free site” link lists.  Then the adult blogs.  Then the Tubes.

7/1 UPDATE:

According to many separate sources, the SERP “hiccup” described above has subsided and TGP rankings have now stabilized.  Not quite like it was before but definitely way better than the thumping described above.  Fingers are crossed as to how long this will persist.