Reno - 5:54 pm on Jan 21, 2012 (gmt 0)

There's only a small handful of people here who criticize Google as much as I do (and rightly IMO!), but I can't find fault with the notion that the most valuable & meaningful content should be top, front & center (or "above the fold" to use their parlance). It just makes sense to me that they would want to encourage that sort of design, and in fact, from the point that I started building websites in the mid-90's, before Google existed, that was the advice from the most accomplished webmasters of that day. I read it plenty times: Put your most important content at the top, and put your most important words/ideas at the front of your paragraphs. I just wish it had more weight in the algo, as I've been trying to do that from the gitgo, and still I took a massive hit from Panda. I'll see if MC's latest pronouncement does me any good ~ I doubt it, but I'll hold onto a shred of hope.

Addendum: Is Google very often an example of "Do as we say, not as we do?" Yeah, they probably are, but that doesn't discount the value of having quality content up top. That notion stands on its own, with or without Google.

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