Google taking steps to block content farms

SEARCH ENGINE LAND: Google has fired a warning toward “content farms” — you’re in our anti-spam sights in 2011. READ MORE>

That message was made loud and clear in Matt Cutts’ blog post today, a post in which Google also says its search quality has improved due to new spam fighting techniques.

Cutts points out that Google has already taken steps against content farms (which he defines as “sites with shallow or low-quality content”), pointing out the so-called “Mayday” update and other algorithmic tweaks made last year. But he also promises a renewed effort in 2011:

Young people not the web wizards of legend

DER SPIEGEL: Manfred Dworschak hits the nail on the head with some wry, research-based observations about young people and Web 2.0. This is the intro to his recent feature, The Internet Generation Prefers the Real World, in the magazine’s English edition:

They may have been dubbed the “Internet generation,” but young people are more interested in their real-world friends than Facebook. New research shows that the majority of children and teenagers are not the Web-savvy digital natives of legend. In fact, many of them don’t even know how to google properly.

Hat tip: Jim MacMillan