mrdch - 8:46 pm on May 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

GoogleGuy, (sorry - it is long...)

First, allow me to express my utter admiration to the endless time you seem to be spending on this Forum and to your ability to read and comment to the extent that you do. Most people can’t even cope with READING the whole thing, let alone making useful contributions to it.

Having said that, I was deeply disturbed by your last lengthy post. Please consider the following points...

Let’s start with the simple question: It’s clear that many people around this place are very stressed. Why? What causes this stress?

You suggest the following explanation:

I would say that stepping back a level of detail would give better insight and less stress. Suppose you're on a long bus trip. If you scrutinize the road for every bump, pebble, or sharp turn, you're going to be more stressed than you need to be.

That comparison is misleading. You see, when someone takes a bus, in MOST cases, they know the destination, they know the bus and they know the road. They don’t NEED to pay attention to the details – as they don’t matter. Now, let me ask you: If you were to take a bus trip with a vehicle you have never seen before, to a destination you have never been to, on a road that can be mined and full of holes, deep pits and loose boundaries with high cliffs and you would hardly be able to see anything through fog and darkness – would you be relaxed? Would you not try and strain your eyes to see through the semi-darkness for any sign of danger? I certainly would – even if I had no control over the bus driver. And in this case, the driver is a well respected veteran!

Why, then, ARE people stressed? Why DO they pay attention to every minute detail?

Quite simply, because their livelihood depends on Google. With the undisputed dominance of Google in the Search Engines area, a drop of 20 places in the SERP of some critical keywords can have a MAJOR effect on the survival and/or prosperity of a site. People have invested countless time, effort and money to develop an online business, and they see the possibility of it being badly affected. Sure they are alarmed!

You then cite the discussions way back in September, and how no one is talking about the change anymore. You then conclude

We still use the scoring improvements from last September, but you don't hear people worrying about it now.

Well, that doesn’t prove anything, other than the fact that people are highly adaptable creatures. What’s the point of talking NOW about the change that took place THEN? And what can be meaningfully said about it anyway? Does anyone have ANY yardstick to compare the SERP now with what it COULD have been with the old scoring algorithm? No wonder no one does. I guess that those that have benefited from it are/were happy, and those wounded have licked their wounds and worked harder to improve their lot. If it is any consolation, I can assure you that no one will mention this update 6 months from now :)

Finally, you say:

the fact that I've said 5-6 (9-10?) times that we'll be bringing in better filters and fresher data, and most people should feel better, I hope.

Why do you think that they ‘should feel better’? What exactly are you promising here? I understand ‘fresher data’ – but until we get to see the results of the ‘better filters’ we can’t really tell. And what if while vigorously fighting spam you have also managed to throw out the baby together with the bath water?

Now - a suggestion. I cannot stress enough my conviction that Google should strive and improve their search results to the best of the company’s ability. This is what you do best – and this is what brought you to the position you have. However, showing the world a half-baked product is something you should consider very carefully. I am sure you must have gained something from the exposure – but you have also lost. Personally, I don’t care much either way – que cera – cera. For many people, so it seems, this causes a lot of distress. You should consider keeping fundamental changes under wrap until they are ready – and roll them out in one go as before. There will be gasps of amazements and disappointments, but they will quickly subside and life will go on.

And very finally. This is NOT a personal attack. My aim is to just emphasize that being the best and the most widely used search engine brings with it responsibilities too. It just comes with the territory :)

Respectfully,

MC