SEO and Better Rankings

In 2011 Google ramped up its efforts to promote 'better sites' - the original Panda update proving to be successful in getting rid of a whole heap of useless and soulless websites such as directories, affiliate sites and gateway pages.
In 2012, Google made the decision that there were far too many big hitting companies paying far too much to SEO Companies in order to command a first page ranking for a whole multitude of search terms - thereby banishing better sites, with better content to anonymity beyond page one.