Matt Cutts, the chief of web-spam team at Google, has provided further insights into SEO. This time, he dealt with certain misconceptions after addressing the issue about rel=author. A user questioned whether Google evaluates how SEOs use rel=author and will it penalise the website where it is use without the existence of article.

The answer to the question was straight affirmative, which means penalty is very much a possibility. Google will monitor the execution of rel=author and implement modifications whenever it is found necessary. He described that it is an impactful step in the battle against spam. Blackhat SEO and other shady techniques of spam are bound to become tougher when the content will feature authors defined for them. It will help track noteworthy comments as well as eradicate all spam tactics.

The second issue that Cutts discussed was about what things are considered too much in SEO what are misunderstood. A fact that is highly misunderstood by users is the differentiations between data refreshes and algorithm updates. He clarified how Google introduced Panda to improve users’ experience and not for generation of temporary profit. Panda rather reduces revenue temporarily. He emphasised that Google focuses on user retention more than any revenue gimmickry.

At last, he brought to people’s notice the area that is much stressed upon by SEOs – link building. He advised that instead of spending resources on link building, creation of relevant and comprehensive content and subsequent marketing are better SEO techniques.