Less than one week ago Udi Manber of Google posted an entry on the Official Google Blog that triggered intense reactions in the blogosphere, and even got the attention of the skilled reporters from Computer World. The common denominator of all entries related to Manber’s post was the idea that Google opens up on its search algorithms. Does it really?
I read Manber’s blog entry over and over again and frankly, the only piece of new information I could find is:
“The UI team is helped by a team of usability experts who conduct user studies and evaluate new features. They travel all over the world, and they even go to people’s homes to see users in their natural habitat. (Don’t worry, they do not come unannounced or uninvited!)”
Everything else - from the idea that the details of the ranking algorithms being Google’s crown jewels, to the idea that the PageRank is no longer the most important ranking factor – is something any intelligent web master is perfectly aware of.
Coming clean about some of the things we suspected since a long time is not synonymous with “opening up on search algorithms.” Basically what Udi Manber says is: don’t focus on PageRank and keyword stuffing, because we check the quality of the search results anyway and you can no longer fool the system. Is this news?
“Other (algorithm) parts include language models (the ability to handle phrases, synonyms, diacritics, spelling mistakes, and so on), query models (it’s not just the language, it’s how people use it today”), time models (some queries are best answered with a 30-minutes old page, and some are better answered with a page that stood the test of time), and personalized models (not all people want the same thing).”
All these statements don’t reveal anything about Google’s search algorithms, but make clear the logical evolution of the search algorithms of any competitive search engine.
Somehow, hidden in Udi Manber’s blog entry, although he never actually states it, is that Google uses people to refine search – pretty much as Mahalo does, or Search Wikia plans to.
Rumors about Google hiring human search editors using Craigslist for example have been on the web for a while. Someone even posted a Google confidential document (pdf) revealing what “quality search results” should focus on. Are we so naïve to believe that they are not funded?
No we are not. Reading the pdf mentioned above and applying the type of quality Google is looking for to your sites is the best SEO you can do anyway.
Personally I always encouraged people to use natural language in their content and to stop over-obsessing about keyword phrases – the way people search has changed so much in the past two years. A look at a Google analytics report shows more and more search queries based on natural language than just keyword queries. A “top 10 video sharing sites” is probably not a keyword phrase you consider optimizing, but this phrase alone brings to this blog about 50 unique visitors each month and the bounce rates are very low.
No one optimized any entry for this particular phrase, but the topic exists and the only place where you can find the phrase is the title. In the end, to rank in the search engines for terms that bring nothing of value to the users will not do you any good and it will also lower the credibility of the search engine. No wonder that Google aims to deliver better results and hires human editors.
The involvement of human editors in refining search is a scary thought somehow: people are subjective and corruptible. But do you honestly believe that any Google employee would risk his position by doing something unethical? Although the possibility exists, I seriously doubt that this will happen. So instead of going around “booing” Google for trying to do better, we should open our minds and let them do their jobs. The only thing that Google should do, and apparently Udi Manber is trying to very diplomatically achieve this, is to stop hiding behind so-called secrets.
Get Free SEO Report
Get Free SEO Tools
Related Links:
Google's Secret Sauce - By Ionot Alex Chitu
Google's Secret Knowledge Platform - By Androidtech
The Secret to Google's Success - By Peter Coy
Online Video:
How to Improve and Keep Your Google Rankings?
Mihaela Lica, public relations and SEO expert, is the managing partner at Pamil Visions PR. She writes for several popular blogs and represents a number of Silicon Valley and other international startup companies. For public relations inquiries please visit Pamil Visions PR. You can read Mihaela's personal blog at eWritings. As a bonus, download a free SEO book for WordPress blogs .
