The Panda Enigma An Overview of Major SEO Factors

While not directly tied to search quality, the correspondence one affiliate marketer had with the AdWords quality team was revealing. Among other tidbits, the Google team wrote these instructions for judging the “compliance” of content to advertising ratios:

“The site must have user value other than providing ads. For example, Google provides web search, news sites provide regularly updated original content, and other services. To check that your website complies with our arbitrage policy:

1. Open the site in a new browser.




2. Expand the browser to a minimum of a 1024 x 768 pixel display.




3. Make sure you have minimal browser menus and your font is set to medium or normal.




4. Scroll to the very top of the page, as evaluation is based on what appears above the fold.




5. The site is considered compliant if the area of ads is less than or equal to the area of content.

“Please use the instructions above to evaluate your entire website and, if necessary, bring it into compliance with our arbitrage policy. If you’re not in compliance, you may receive a low landing page quality score, which can negatively affect your Quality Scores, cost-per-clicks, and ad positions.”

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2076480/The-Panda-Enigma-An-Overview-of-Major-SEO-Factors

Od Googla : ARBITRAGE SITE

Google’s position is that high ad quality and landing page quality are important for providing a positive user experience. Therefore, Google AdWords doesn’t permit ads directing to landing pages that were specifically made to show additional ads (a practice known as “arbitrage”). Furthermore, we’re extending the definition of arbitrage to include websites that are primarily occupied by display ads.

The ratio of ads to unique, non-ad content is measured to determine if a landing page violates our arbitrage policy. We measure this ratio by looking at content above the fold (i.e. without scrolling) on a display that measures at least 1024 x 768 pixels with a maximized browser window. A landing page is not considered arbitrage if all of the following conditions are met:

1. 30% of the browser display area consists of unique and relevant content.

This excludes search boxes, headers, navigation links, logos, etc.

Specific, well-organized commercial offers (such as those found on retail sites) may count as unique and relevant content as long as they provide significant user value.

2. The browser display area used for ads cannot exceed the browser display area used for unique and relevant content. For example, if 30% of the display area consists of unique and relevant content, there may be no more than 30% of the display space used for advertising. If 50% of the display area consists of unique and relevant content, up to 50% of the display space may be used for ads.