
Testing Google's New Algorithm: It Really Is Better - domino
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/02/testing-googles-new-algorithm-it-really-is-better/71720/
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shin_lao
Why didn't the author test with more queries?

This doesn't sound very professional.

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freyfogle
Agree. I've worked on search for about 10 years. One of the most frustrating
things is that no matter what your view point you can always find one or two
queries to justify it. Individual queries can be a useful debugging tool, but
it's no way to try to assess general search quality. That can only be done by
looking at user behaviour over a huge sample set (and over time).

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jay_kyburz
I think the best thing about this story is that a Juggernaut like Google can
be convinced to review and update their core business as a result of a bunch
of hubub in the blogosphere. It's great that they are listening.

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truthout
Have you not noticed google's market share declining?

It's not the blogosphere, it's their duty to shareholders.

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TuxPirate
We do indeed see less MFA-like sites with no content value but I find new
behaviors annoying.

Google places results attempt to outrank online business directories results
who are omnipresent in many local business search phrases but often also
prevent legitimate business from ranking well on the first page, sometimes
even from ranking on the first page -- now search results can be replaced by
Google's content leaving the first page with only few web page URLs.

Amongst other things Google is being more permissive on how they display
content and begin to rely on their own data to provide search with
informations.

