Earlier this week Google announced during the last weekend in February the search engine giant would roll out over 20 changes to its search, to improve the results and deliver much better targeted ads. The change would see websites either drop in the SERPS or in fact it could give you a boost.

As part of the announcement Google also stated they had made changes to how they evaluate links. This could mean a lot of new changes for online marketing staff to look into and it could mean some sites are hit hard if they are found doing any of these old techniques.

Link evaluation is a big aspect for people in the industry and a lot of people are probably trying to work out what it could have been that Google has dropped. I have some thoughts on what I think Google might have dropped if any and I also have some thoughts on something’s which will now be completely frowned upon by Google.

Firstly I think keyword stuffing has finally died, it was close to it for many years and a lot of people in the industry had stopped stuffing areas with keywords. However I do think people still tried to beat the system with this trick and now I finally think Keyword stuffing has completely being banned and will be frowned upon by the search giant.

I also think directories even the big ones like DMOZ will take a hit as they have become a link builders dream for free and easy links. DMOZ for many years has being one of those directories with a good value but I think this has now dropped and it has become less.

I think the new thing which will now become more and more important and see your website have a boost in the SERPS is Juicy Page Links, sure this has always being an important part of Link Building but I think this will slowly become the trump card. Content will always be the queen and links will always be the king when it comes to SEO.

So what do I think has being dropped?

This is an interesting question as it’s not like Google will ever tell us and it’s not like they only have a few evaluation techniques they use.  The below highlights all the things I think Google might have chosen from when choosing the technique to drop.

• Title Tags
• Surrounding Text
• Position of a Link
• HTML Signals
• Link Age
• Page Rank
• Type of Link

So which one do I think they have dropped? Well for me I have to say I think it will either be the Position of a Link or the Age of a link, These two used to be very important factors when Google was not as advanced as it is now, I feel as Google has changed and improved over time the 2 factors mentioned above are no longer important to help Google determine if your site has relevant and unique content and if you have good links to your website.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the technique you think might have been dropped by Google and also any changes you might have seen within the SERPS which might also give more indication as to the link evaluation technique which has been dropped.