Since Google changed their algorithms to deal better with web spam and useless articles, even blackhatters and web spammers know that you have to serve useful c

Since Google changed their algorithms to deal better with web spam and useless articles, even blackhatters and web spammers know that you have to serve useful content to get search engine traffic. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/google-search-and-search-engine-spam.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/google-search-and-sea... Also, how much of this traffic increase has to do with the election, since Salon is a site that runs a lot of political stories? It is good they are seeing more traffic with fewer, better articles, but 2 months of record traffic in an election year would be expected of a political site. What will be their explanation in a year after the election is over and their traffic falls? He specifically mentioned there were no outlier events that drove traffic, but is that really true? The Republican debates and early primaries have been dominating most news outlets for a few months now. It certainly drives the stories on Salon today. Understanding what drives traffic, whether it be events, advertising, trends, etc., is essential to craft a content strategy that works in the long run. I do believe longer, engaging, original stories are good for the user, whether they are scanning or reading the entire article. They are good for SEO too. It will be interesting to see what happens with Salon's traffic and their new-found commitment to better content.