Seventy percent of us search via Google. We’ve all done a Google search, clicked on a link that seems appropriate only to open a lame page that includes regurgitated content from a PR Newswire press release or a meaningless article loaded with keywords that is there simply for its word count. The offending sites are called content farms, which employ freelance writers to generate textual content designed to satisfy search engine algorithms.  Content farms try to game Google search thereby generating passive ad revenue by attracting reader page views.

Now Google is fighting back.

Reporter Zoe Chace, in this interesting National Public Radio segment, reveals a change Google made in late February geared to push low-quality content out of top search results.

We know unscrupulous marketers will continue to create and use black hat techniques to rise up in the Google search results – for many companies it is do or die.  We will take a different tack and keep reminding clients if you want to get found, generate quality content that others will value.

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez teaches students in her Blogger Academy. (Nick Miroff for NPR)

I was listening to NPR on the way to the office this morning and was struck by this story. Yoani Sanchez is a Cuban blogger, virtually unknown in her own country, but influential among Cubans living abroad. Although her blog, Generation Y, is blocked by the Cuban government and she isn’t allowed to have an Internet connection, Sanchez persists. She emails several posts at a time to friends oversees to post on her blog. In turn, they send back comments from her blog.

Sanchez also runs a blogger academy from her home. She teaches others how to use social media tools, which are opening new connections and pathways to information in spite of the government’s efforts to quash access to them.

For me, Sanchez’s story highlighted how privileged we are to enjoy the freedom of speech, easy access to a wealth of information and the growing number of tools available to interact and share information and opinions freely in the digital space.