Been Downgraded By Panda? Google Has Some Tips For You...

Following the furore caused by the new Panda update to Google's search algorithm, Google have just blogged with some tips aimed at helping those engaged in SEO web design to understand what they mean by "high quality" content.

Of course, they aren't revealing the algorithm itself - that remains locked in a safe somewhere, probably alongside the Coca Cola recipe - but the idea is to give developers some indication of the things to look for.

The blog post lays out 23 points, many of which are variations on "is the content well written?"; for example, is it edited well, does it have stylistic, spelling or factual errors, has quality control been carried out, is the content original, would you trust the content?

Other points include:

•  Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
• Does the article describe both sides of a story?
• 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, encyclopaedia, or book?
•  Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

For the full list, see the Google Webmaster Central Blog.  

Of course, most site owners will think they are covering this already; but if you saw any hit from the Panda update or subsequently (Google say they've rolled out over a dozen additional algorithm tweaks since) it's worth taking a look at the list to confirm you're doing everything you can.