Wilburforce - 10:59 am on Nov 1, 2012 (gmt 0)

However, there seems to be many examples where Google rank light new content above an established site.

@ohno I'm with you there: my established site is one of the victims.

If we knew a bit more about the mechanisms they are using it might be more comprehensible, but whatever they are doing they are getting it wrong, (light new content ranking over rich established content being just one of the many aspects of this).

The scale of the problem shouldn't be underestimated, however: my business is in a relatively small niche industry, but searching for what I provide returns over 31 million pages (so random selection would put my home page at the top for about 1 second a year). Clearly Google's current scoring is a lot better than random, but clearly, also, a lot of people are motivated to game the results (whether or not they are providing the most relevant outcome from the searcher's perspective), and Google's wish to manage both true relevance and gaming is more than understandable: for most of us it is desirable. For them, also, anything that comes top in the organics implies to the consumer - whether or not correctly - Google's endorsement. The fact that my page is no longer at the top is collateral damage, not conspiracy.

When and at what point in their hierarchy the current errors currently showing will be addressed is hard to predict, but if I was in control of it (or had a lot of my own money invested in it) I would be worried. As someone affected by it, all I can do is apply best practice (remaining hopeful is more of a challenge), whether or not it works immediately.