Google offers an angle on quality websites

ONLINE SEARCH GIANT Google has posted an article about web site quality after its Panda algorithm update affected many web site rankings.

Almost three months after Google launched its quality segregating search algorithm, the company has posted an explanation of what constitutes online quality.

The search giant posted a second Panda update over the weekend and Google Fellow Amit Singhal offered the company's justification for the algorithm update.

"We hope the questions above give some insight into how we try to write algorithms that distinguish higher-quality sites from lower-quality sites," blogged Singhal.

Singhal didn't, of course, tell anyone what factors go into the Panda algorithm and he pointed the finger at web sites for trying to create search engine optimisation (SEO) content to push them higher in Google's search rankings.

"We encourage you to keep questions like the ones above in mind as you focus on developing high-quality content rather than trying to optimize for any particular Google algorithm," he added.

Singhal did offer an insight into what Google looks at when it examines high quality sites, including mainly generic common sense questions about content. Nothing he listed suggested any specific insights into how Panda works.

Google launched Panda to weed out content aggregator farms and track quality web content over SEO content, but some companies have found themselves demoted in Google's search rankings.

Some travel companies have gotten lower search rankings and Google has already been dragged into lawsuits for allegedly disfavouring certain travel companies' web sites in its rankings. µ