Google seems to be coming under fire at the start of this year with suggestions that 2008 needs to be about refining search and rewarding the right websites. The Guardian’s Jack Schofield suggests that some of the information we read on results pages is pure unnecessary fabrication, while the unofficial Google System Blog notes that the search engine’s algorithms are changing to favour recent content rather than heavily linked websites.

Businesses that have invested in strong associated links and worked hard to create quality content about their products may find that newer sites refreshing information more regularly will knock them down the listings. With the emergence of many more resources, comments and review websites this challenge is a real threat.

With the possibility that Google does not reverse this trend in the near future, serious online businesses need to place January as a month of relevant and regular original content. Keep links as a close second however as Google may easily backtrack.

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