Search engines win a victory over low-quality websites

Google and Bing have been at war with low-quality websites and content farms, and their tactics have also struck fear in many legitimate publishers as well--keeping all on their toes.

One of the big problems that search engines are tackling are knock-off websites and copied, scraped or duplicated content. Such content is often less than desirable for search users, as such content was flooding the web for a broad array of keyterms from "how to find cheap car insurance" to "how to unlock an iPhone."

The goal of these content farms is to attract clicks and thereby score advertising dollars.

New Scientist recently conducted a study with Richard McCreadie of the University of Glasgow, UK to explore the issue and better understand if search engines are making progress. The study focuses on 50 search queries that are known to be a target of content farms.

The results of the study indicate that Google and Bing are making progress in targeting and fighting back content farmers. Google has taken the lead in this war with it's initial Panda update launched back on February 24th 2011. The New Scientist article cautions readers to not expect the war to be over however. With over a billion search queries a day, some companies and individuals will do whatever it takes to vie for the top positions within a search engine's ranks, including tricking and misleading users to score a cheap, short-term buck or two.