However, the way links pass value must be changed. For one, anchor text needs to lose so much weight as a ranking factor. It causes spammy links all over the place. And paid links will eventually be more penalized.

I don’t see link metrics changing a whole lot from where they are now, but I thought it would be easier to condense trust, authority and relevance into one metric simply called value.

Validity

There is a ton of crap online. A lot of Singapore Business Fax List what is being said is simply not valid. I think search engines are going to be able to analyze language to the point that they can use semantics to determine the validity of certain content.

For example, lose 100 pounds in just two weeks is not a valid claim. Make ten million dollars online in one month is not a valid claim to someone who does not currently have a website. Eating junk food all day is healthy and makes your heart stronger is not a valid claim.

Variety

One sign of valid content is if it is duplicated. If your content is quoted elsewhere, that is one way to validate it. If your content uses proper spelling and grammar, then it is more likely to be valid. Content that is written poorly, repeats keywords, has the same phrase in bold a lot and other related issues is probably not valid.

I don’t think we are far off from search engines EF Leads  being able to validate content. I think they do to an extent now in determining the quality of content. The Panda Update is a sure sign to us that Google is moving in this direction.

Another thing search engines likely already look at and will examine further in terms of validity is the existence of a privacy policy, terms and conditions, SSL certificate for e-commerce and the presence or lack of affiliate links. Sites with no privacy policy or disclosures and lots of affiliate links are typically not of the highest quality.

 

Is your content pretty much the same thing as your competitors? If you don’t offer anything different, why should search engines want to display your content? I think search engines will catch on to this idea very soon.