Google changes algorithm to fight content-farms

Summary: With the rise of low-value Web sites who sell links to raise the search rankings of other Web sites, Google changes its algorithm to preserve their reputation as a search engine.

Reputation is everything, and Google is adjusting its search algorithm against sites that sell their links to firms seeking to raise their search ranking, according to a Silicon Valley Mercury News article.

Google’s action comes as a response to outside observers, one of which is Michael Arrington, the founder of the blog Tech Crunch.

Google is not the only search engine company facing this problem, as Microsoft’s corporate vice president of search product development Michael Shum adds “We really need to take search quality very seriously; otherwise, we are all going down the toilet.”

Vanessa Fox of Nine by Blue adds, ” I think the spammers are getting smarter.”