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Search algorithms and the pursuit of quality By: Rick Dahne

As any experienced SEO company will know, search engines aim to remove what are known as 'spam' sites from the Web in order to improve the standard of content as a whole. One of the methods they use is to create mathematical algorithms to check for those features most likely to be associated with a low quality website.

Many of the techniques spam sites use to try and increase their search engine optimization involve links, so links are one area in particular that the search engines focus on. When links do not appear to be relevant to the overall theme of a page, or even the site as a whole, this sends out a strong signal of a possibly untrustworthy site. Alternatively, a group of lists on a page may appear to have nothing in common, and they may not be incorporated into the content of a page, but stand alone, as is often the case with advertisements. Links which are actually advertisements can be recognised by search engines through examining the text that surrounds them, which often gives valuable clues.

When the same links occur repeatedly throughout a site, other than those which are involved in navigation and other essential parts of site function, which search engines can recognise, this acts as a warning of a possible spam site. The effect increases if there are a number of websites all full of the same links. An exception occurs where several sites are all owned by one company and need to link together, as this will be recognised as legitimate by the search engines. Usually, the links on low-quality sites lead to and from other sites of similar standing. It is rare to find any links to authoritative websites.

Where links have been bought and sold, website owners are taking a great risk, as the penalties for doing this include search engine companies taking action against a site. Sometimes, simply through spotting text which explains to customers how to buy links, sites which engage in these practices can be detected. On other occasions, competitors or an employee with a grievance will report a site for underhand behaviour.

Keywords are another sign that a site is of poor quality, as spam sites often have relatively little original content and large amounts of the same keywords. This is known as 'keyword stuffing', a technique that is regarded in a negative light by search engines. Often, numerous sections of the content will also have been copied from other sites.

As well as the algorithms used by search engines, there are real human beings employed to check web pages, as people often notice things which are missed by an automated system. To a human being, it could be quite obvious on first glance that a site is a low-quality one stuffed full of advertisements, whereas the site could have been cleverly set up in order to deceive search robots.

At SearchEngineOptimization.co.uk we use ethical methods to increase the quality and improve the SEO of your website.