ohno - 10:15 am on Nov 1, 2012 (gmt 0)

It seems far more likely to me that Google are trying more and more radical methods to manage a mountain of content that is growing at an almost (and I am not even sure about almost) unimaginable rate. What concerns me most os that they are getting it wrong, not that there is some sinister intention to destroy my livelihood.

That is an interesting point. However, there seems to be many examples where Google rank light new content above an established site. In ecom who would you trust? The guy who has been in business over 10 years or the one with the website that popped up yesterday? What's all the foreign junk traffic about? It used to pop up maybe once every few months, back then it used to make me feel sick as I knew 100% that sales would drop off-they always did! Now that has become a daily occurance! I've asked in Google groups, no answer. I've tweeted Matt Cutts, no answer. Others from all over the world see it yet no one has ever got an answer from Google on the matter. Whatever their intent if it carries on like this it will bite them in the ass sooner or later. Amazon & eBay won't keep tgheir revenue lasting forever. In any case just why do they have so many Amazon & eBay results in the SERPs? I mean the top & r/h side are full of ads to these sites & then sometimes all of the organic results! If I want something on eBay I search on eBay, is that their real fear? They will be cut out of the loop? They've failed on social media IMO, Google+ and that stupid +1 button are a complete waste of time. To be honest social media concersn me the most, I just don't get the facination but that is where the buyers of tomorrow will be, I'll bet 100000% FB know that.......