Last century (1996) Bill Gates said that “Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet.” From that came the phrase “content is king”.

With Google’s recent “Panda Update” also know as the Content Farm or Farmer update it can now be said that “Quality content is king.”

Google has changed their search engine ranking algorithm to try and eliminate sites with low quality content. And as you might expect it has angered many people whose sites dropped in the rankings. While on the other hand, those whose sites have risen in the rankings are very happy.

To quote from The Official Google Blog:

“This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.”

So no matter which end of the rankings you fall on, this change points out one very important factor. If you want your site to rank high you MUST provide quality content. And Google’s new update just reinforces that point.

Google also made other changes to their algorithm.  And those changes were designed to eliminate sites that have a lot of advertising such as banner ad or display ads. So keep that in mind when adding affiliate links or even Google Adsense.

So in the end what does it mean for you as a website or blog owner?  Keep producing quality content whether it be words, video or audio.  Add value to your site and strive to educate your readers and engage them in conservation.

Do that and you will be fine and your readers will keep coming back for more and who knows they may even want to do business with you!!