Let's talk about something other than CJ Javascript links for a bit...

Recently, Google updated their Webmaster Quality Guidelines to add a second bullet aimed toward affiliates. Peter Figueredo at Revenues writes that Google Only Wants Affiliates Who "Add Value" and talks about this change (second bullet, bold added):

• Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines, or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.
• If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.

Among many comments, worthy of a read, Jimmy Daniels responds:

This coming from a site that just lists other sites for people to visit. Kettle meet pot, pot meet kettle.

and today Terry at SuperAff.com complains:

Google itself is a type of doorway or ‘thin’ page. A doorway page is basically a page where the sole purpose is to drive traffic to another website. It has little to no original or unique content. We go to a search engine to find a variety of results it has ’scraped’ or ‘copied’ from other websites and we click off from those results to a ‘real’ website.

and

Oh me oh my, flash thought: That sounds exactly like Google’s Froogle! I wonder what the value add is for this particular datafeed driven site

First, let me say that I have no love for Google. I understand the bitterness. I've had my fair share of getting kicked in the balls by the google boot.

Here's the thing. Sure, Google's site is "thin" of unique content. However, Google's not trying to get their own thin sites listed in natural SERPS, theirs or others. Take a look at their robots.txt.

I don't think Google really cares what sorts of thin sites you might create. They just don't want them in their index. Isn't that their prerogative? If you want to be in their index, you need to play by their rules. Though unfortunately, rule #1 is "don't share the rules," and #2 is "change the rules often".

Even so, congrats to Terry for her newly declared approach of critical thinking and saying "screw Google". If you don't live and die by Google and other search engine traffic, it's much easier to sleep at night.