Google have spoken about their planned changes to the algorithm they intend to use in their search
results in order to improve the freshness of the content the search engine pulls up. These changes
could affect up to, or over, a third of all searches, impacting both the relevance and quality of results
listed under a search item.
It was not long ago that Google changed their infrastructure to make improvements to the speed with
which search results could be indexed and then returned, but now the algorithmic change will improve
the quality of what is returned too, making the user experience far more efficient.
The new changes are set to build on the success of the implementation and roll out of the Caffeine
system that was put in place only a year ago, by ensuring that the results that are pulled up under
a given search item are current, relevant, and in accordance with their freshness.
Changes expected to impact over a third of searches
With over a third of all searches set to be affected by the planned changes, the impact should be far
greater than that made by the Panda update, which only had the potential to affect 12% of the changes.
In terms of the experience of the user, whereas at one time they may have entered a search item and
found pages of links that may have linked back to old content that had become irrelevant, pages of
new information that may only be moments old will be displayed. This of course means that access
to the most recent information posted on the web will be much more readily available. It will be much
easier to stay up to date with current events as and when they happen.
For events that occur with regularity, such as sporting events, it has historically been difficult to locate
the most recent information, but the new changes will mean that the latest information will be given
automatically unless the search item specifies otherwise.
Sourcing the latest information
Information may be sought about an event that occurs with the same regularity as a sporting event,
for instance, but is less popular. Again, the latest updates will be given for these searches too so that
in the event that you are just looking for some information about a car you are interesting in buying,
the latest products and links will be provided as opposed to content that is a number of years old.
The switch to the caffeine system presented a number of ways for Google to improve its searches. As
content was being pulled in faster, the potential was there for it to be ranked in a way that was more
useful too. The new approach will rank according to how fresh the content is. Although it is said that
the new algorithm will affect over a third of searches, there is no data yet to inform us of how many
searches were already being impacted by freshness before the changes.
Freshness to affect twice the number of searches
It has been said that prior to the changes, freshness affected only 17.5 per cent of the searches returned
but this is set to double. Although, overall the impact will be a positive one and the changes would be
welcomed by most users, there are downsides that should be considered. For instance, if freshness is
going to be given priority then questions must be asked as to what merits ‘freshness’, because if content
that is updated only by adding in a new link is deemed fresh, then the results may still be offering up quite
a bit of out of date material. The case may be that reposts are given priority simply because a new title or
a back link has been included even though all of the information is the same, making it possible for old
stories to hit the top of the search engine results page.
Determining quality by dating the source
Perhaps freshness will not be the only attribute that is rewarded, or perhaps certain criteria will be used
to determine what content is not only fresh but of a high quality too. How relevant and topical a piece of
information is in terms of its relation to the search item should be given consideration. The date that the
information was first used could be one criterion to use to measure how current a piece of information is,
so that the age of the piece can be ascertained before a decision as to whether to list it as relevant or not
can be made.
Addressing the ‘Twitter problem’
}One problem that must still be addressed is that of Twitter and the fact that the most up to date information
available on the internet comes in the form of tweets. As Google cannot yet keep up with Twitter feeds it is not
able to list this information and the new algorithm has not provided an adequate solution to this problem.
Whilst Google are undoubtedly searching for ways to remedy this situation, the fact still remains that whilst
we may start to see changes to the way searches are carried out so that the information returned is generally
more relevant, there are no guarantees that all of these changes will equate to an overall improvement.
Does change mean improvement?
It is more likely that the changes to over a third of searches will add up to nothing more than that – changes,
and as we are all too aware when we hear about new technologies and awe-inspiring software, changes are
not synonymous with improvements in quality, but perhaps rather the general way information is sought and
provided instead.
