Google and the Amazing Algorithm Alteration

On January 2nd we wrote a post on "The Increasing Uselessness of Google Search" based on our experience on searching for commercial items over the holiday period. Matt Cutts of Google told us (and others who had noticed the same) that we'd never had its so good with Spam and later that month on TWIG a number of A Lister US Tech luminaries told us we didn't know what we were talking about. Roll forward to the 24 February, and Google announces the most brutal change to its search algorithm ever - Search Engine Land:

New Change Impacts 12% Of US Results

The new algorithm — Google’s “recipe” for how to rank web pages — starting going live yesterday, the company told me in an interview today.

Google changes its algorithm on a regular basis, but most changes are so subtle that few notice. This is different. Google says the change impacts 12% (11.8% is the unrounded figure) of its search results in the US , a far higher impact on results than most of its algorithm changes. The change only impacts results in the US. It may be rolled out worldwide in the future.

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Officially, Google isn’t saying the algorithm change is targeting content farms. The company specifically declined to confirm that, when I asked. However, Matt Cutts — who heads Google’s spam fighting team — told me, “I think people will get the idea of the types of sites we’re talking about.”

What can we say except Told Ya So

Actually, I do give Google a lot of credit for moving so far, so fast, and Matt Cutts did what he had to as a Corporate Droid - but it really is so frigging transparent, why no just 'fess up guys?. Anyway, Kudos! As for those A Listers, we know who you are....... and we're saying nowt more 'cos we know we'll mess up one day as well

There are some who suggest this is PR as much as real action - which may well be true, but I think Google now really understands it let things rot a bit too far......