Google Cracking Down On Web Spam

In an unusual show of transparency, Google has announced a list of specific items that will cause your web site, or specific pages of your site, to be algorithmically removed from their search results. Read the full announcement here.

According to a Google representative, this more aggressive stance on web spam comes from over 14 months of testing and research that shows an 18.2% increase in more relevant sites in the search results when filtering out sites and pages that have the specific features listed.

Here are the items that will cause your site/pages to be removed from the search index:

• If your pages contain a significant amount* of duplicate content
• If a significant number* of your pages have duplicate title tags
• Pages that use a meta refresh or javascript redirects
• If a significant portion* of the links to your site are from blog or forum comments
• Pages that link out to more than 100 other pages
• Domains hosted in China
• Pages with more than 5 “no followed” links.

* Although no specific numbers are mentioned, the announcement does give details on how they determine what a significant number is.