Big Algo Change at Google - the Hype and the...

This post is from from my other blog here

Ok enough is enough. Over the last 24hrs no less than 3 major websites, (and many smaller ones) have been ranting about Google ranking new content (http://searchengineland.com/080102-082903.php) over older index entries. Am I the only person that finds this BIG NEWS less than exciting? I mean I have understood through most of last year that there were temporal effects that had newer entries/content additions ranking early but slowly fading over time if new links aren’t flowing in or the content reasonably updated. We have been watching this for some time now. This is another great illustration of how ‘the masses’ seem to think that there is a single algorithm at work. The folks at Mashable are talking about the ‘PageRank’ algorithm being broken which is just so far from reality it nearly nauseating. This has very little to do with PageRank and more to do with a variety of layered algos and a temporal parameter to the weighting system. To be calling them ‘artificially inflated’ is simply ignorant. WTF is so freaking artificial? Why do people seem to keep assuming that all things lead to PageRank? I have covered so many patents over the last few years that in whole, or in part, bring a wide variety of potential ranking factors, (signals) into the mix beyond PR, so why the confusion? I personally believe, that a heavily skewed PR world of ranking left us way back in early 2006. There is simply nothing new here for anyone that is in the trenches ranking sites 24/7. This phenomenon has been in play for quite a while.Let’s have a closer look at this so-called SERP evidence; January 1 tcp/ip (http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=January+1+tcp%2Fip) I am sorry, but this is not really much evidence of anything but how some bandwagon jumpers can board a no-name search...