Image by welovepandas via Flickr
The latest highly charged buzz on the algorthmic updates of Google especially the Panda Update is truly an indicator that the search and as an offshoot the whole web is going through a transition which is evolutionary in nature.
I personally am in favor of this and am very happy about the changes which are taking place as I believe these steps are surely going to bring a social wave on search which only sites with high quality standards on all fronts will be able to surf on with their website itself as their surfing board .
Google says :
Our goal is simple: to give people the most relevant answers to their queries as quickly as possible. This requires constant tuning of our algorithms, as new content—both good and bad—comes online all the time.
Our site quality algorithms are aimed at helping people find "high-quality" sites by reducing the rankings of low-quality content. The recent "Panda" change tackles the difficult task of algorithmically assessing website quality.
Panda algorithm change was just one of roughly 500 search improvements we expect to roll out to search this year. In fact, since we launched Panda, we've rolled out over a dozen additional tweaks to our ranking algorithms, and some sites have incorrectly assumed that changes in their rankings were related to Panda. Search is a complicated and evolving art and science, so rather than focusing on specific algorithmic tweaks, we encourage you to focus on delivering the best possible experience for users.
With so many algo updates expected this year and with Google practically monopolizing the search market Amit Singhal’s guidance on how to determine if your site is a quality site or not throws light on many issues and queries and also makes us think if your read in between the lines (the 23 questions).
Amit Singhal writes:
Below are some questions that one could use to assess the "quality" of a page or an article. These are the kinds of questions we ask ourselves as we write algorithms that attempt to assess site quality. Think of it as our take at encoding what we think our users want.
Of course, we aren't disclosing the actual ranking signals used in our algorithms because we don't want folks to game our search results; but if you want to step into Google's mindset, the questions below provide some guidance on how we've been looking at the issue:
- Would you trust the information presented in this article?
- Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
- Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
- Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
- Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
- Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
- Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
- Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
- How much quality control is done on content?
- Does the article describe both sides of a story?
- Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
- Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
- Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
- For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
- Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
- Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
- Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
- Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
- Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
- Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
- Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
- Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?
- Would users complain when they see pages from this site?
Let us focus on the essence of each question to come to a conclusion to what is the definition of a quality site as per Google if these are the questions asked in the decision boxes of the flowchart when the Panda Algorithm was coded.
If the content is :
1. Trust worthy
2. Written by an expert
3. Not duplicated with other variations on the same site
4. The site can be trusted for credit card payments
5. Does not have spelling and style errors
6. The topic is in sync with what the readers want to read about
7. Is original
8. Adds value to the topic
9. Checked for quality standards to provide good UX
10. Unbiased and give both sides of the story
11. Hosted on Domain Authority
12. Is not mass produced
13. Is edited well
14. Trust worthiness related to important matters like health
15. Reflects brand authority
16. Is complete and offers an overall view about the topic
17. Stating facts or discussing the topic with insights
18. Is it worth sharing
19. Having a lot of Ads. Loses the true essence of information and knowledge
20. Is the content worth being printed
21. Is it long enough to be informative
22. Is attention given to detail
23. Is published with good UX
Then
Google considers it as quality content and has the potential of ranking high.
Now again how many permutations and combinations will work in favor of rankings and how the trust authority, social authority , domain authority will be decided upon only Google will know but these points will surely define the quality of the content of your blog post and webpage.
All Google posts on SEO are guidelines and once these posts are live all SEOs and website owners start following their norms.
How Google will follow these points to rank websites only time will tell, but if the website owners follow them then the web is surely going to get rid of a lot of junk content and ensure quality content in future which shall shift the focus of search from information to knowledge. This is surely going to be a healthy step forward for the world wide web.
Related Links On This Topic:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/finding-more-high-quality-sites-in.html
http://seogadget.co.uk/high-quality-web-sites-the-new-google-ranking-factor/
http://www.seobook.com/questioning-questions
http://searchengineland.com/impacted-by-googles-panda-update-google-asks-you-to-consider-this-76050
