tedster - 8:36 pm on Feb 23, 2007 (gmt 0)

I do think Google undertands that they are plugging holes in the dike with their thumbs right now - and sooner or later they will run out of thumbs. Something (maybe more than one thing) must eventually replace the dominating force of backlinks in the algo.

Much of the current SERP shifting we see may be just such tests: Google trying to improve their on-page content analysis -- and also, possibly, fold in more "user experience" metrics. The data gathered from personalized search may be quite useful in this regard. I think there will be a place for backlinks in the algo going forward, just not such a dominant one. Otherwise, paid link advertising will be a terrible struggle for both Google and site owners.