Thread: Could Google have a content filter?

At least one SEO, Joel Walsh, believes they do and has written an article for http://www.sitepronews.com/ entitled "Google's "Good Writing" Content Filter."

Mr. Walsh looked at "...Google's top five pages for the five most searched-on keywords, as identified by WordTracker on June 27, 2005. Typically, the top five pages receive an overwhelming majority of the traffic delivered by Google." His observations point to several success factors: updating, spelling and grammar, paragraphs, lists, sentence length and contextual relevance; and SEO do's and don'ts, regarding: pagerank, frames, keyword optimization, sub-headings, links popularity, and originality. The conclusions are based on observations making them anecdotal. Yet, it is interesting that Mr. Walsh sees a content trend in Google. I don't quite see the trend yet but I believe google will sooner or later get on the content bandwagon.

The article is worth a read. If you can't find the article at SiteProNews, I have a copy at http://cssdesignmagic.com/google-content-filter.html.

hi fron

we need help i have not too much ideas but i heard long sentences and link popularity were very important..

Thanks for sharing Frobn... it was an interesting read.

Though I don't agree with a few things he stated because I see the exact opposite in some of the results in my KW's on Google searches.

This site consistanly places right above or right below mine in most of my KW searches, yet it is KW Spamming if I've ever seen it. Take a look for yourself and tell me your thoughts now on that article. PhoenixHomesByDavid.com

I am in no way bitching about it though. It is very nice to see him 1st, or 3rd, either way right next to me in the SERP's. I think educated consumers (which is what I'm after) would leave his site in a flash and then move on to mine or someone else's (hopefully mine). I have never counted how many times the words "homes", "real estate", "Phoenix" and so on are actually on his home page, but it is waaaayyyyyy more than I can count on my fingers. LOL Funny thing is, he formats all of his pages this way, just not as heavy as the home page. AND, still does well in the SERP's... go figure.

But again, he's great competition and I wouldn't have it any other way!

I've talked to David a few times in the past, as he is a client of mine for the newsletter and content, plus he's listed in our directory as a guest. I've always found him pleasant to talk to.

But I see what you mean.

He certainly has that "Arizona Homes" keyword tied down. There is a guy in Orange County with a site that does something similar and he always does well, too.

Phoenix and Scottsdale are such toughly competitive areas. I don't know the answers, though I think I do sometimes. Then Phoenix, Scottsdale, and San Diego simply prove I'm wrong, or at least not always right.

I'm going to run an experiment and see something. Remind me to check in a week or so...or every week. Some time ago, I think I figured out a flaw in my system, but I've never run a regular check to see if I'm accurate.

Originally Posted by Phoenix Realtor

Thanks for sharing Frobn... it was an interesting read.

Though I don't agree with a few things he stated because I see the exact opposite in some of the results in my KW's on Google searches.

This site consistanly places right above or right below mine in most of my KW searches, yet it is KW Spamming if I've ever seen it. Take a look for yourself and tell me your thoughts now on that article. PhoenixHomesByDavid.com


But again, he's great competition and I wouldn't have it any other way!

I checked ...david.com on Google, MSN and Yahoo. Sure enough he has a top position on Google, but not on either MSN or Yahoo. Even before reading the article I had come to the conclusion that 'over-optimization of key words dilutes the site's ranking' causing me to re-write my title, description, and main page. I am still certain that this is the case. Why, ...david.com has the rating in Google can be explained by other factors. (I like the way HHI put it in another post, (paraphasing) rank depends on a "symphony of factors.") What I see as promising is that MSN, especially MSN, and Yahoo produce better results at least in this case. Don't misinterpret what I am saying. I am not saying that MSN or Yahoo gives better search results across the board what I am implying is that there is plenty of room for improvement by all SEs.

Originally Posted by Shimmer

hi fron

we need help i have not too much ideas but i heard long sentences and link popularity were very important..

Let's see. Link popularty is most important for Google, somewhat less important for Yahoo and not at all important for MSN.

Long sentences? You got me. Good web writing practices dicate that sentences should be complete but short. See some of my previous posts and my page on Writing web content

A "symphony of factors"....I may start using that term. I like it.

In writing for the web, you should always make it short. You should always use bullets. In writing for anywhere, you should always mix up sentence structure and never over-use words.

People don't "read" on the web -- they SCAN.

If you write long sentences, no one is going to read it. They may not read it, anyway.