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. Taking a step back, we wanted to explain some of the ideas and research that drive the development of our algorithms.

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:


http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co....gh-quality.html

Yep, they are really cracking down on paid links, and blackhat link spamming techniques I see. More and more it seems as though social networks are playing a big role in rankings as well.

Here's one of the points raised in that blog which I really think helps determine if something is of real value or not-

Well, if I were to take a stab at this and at something I COULD do, rather than focus on things I have no control over, I would first look at my site through the eyes of my visitors. I would reread every page, one page at a time.

First thing: fix typos, grammar and punctuation.
Next: eliminate any duplicate or paraphrased or "borrowed" content.
Then: I would get rid of any thin pages, where there's not really enough content on it to justify it being there.

- I would look at my advertising and determine whether I was spamming my visitor with ads. If so, tone it down or take it off.
- I would look to see if I really knew my topic and if what I was offering was useful or worthy of being visited. If not, I would fix or change topics
- I would ask myself if I was only doing the site for the money. If so, that will show and I'd realize and accept the responsibility that because of my money-motives, I was going to have to work harder.

And that's just the beginning. . .

Hope this helps!