TypicalSurfer - 1:53 pm on Nov 1, 2012 (gmt 0)

conspiracy theories with google stealing the converting traffic.

Don't confuse theories with the facts, if you read the transcript from googles last earnings conference call they plainly stated that monetizing user intent was a big part of their direction. Mis-characterizing the business entity known as google helps no one, they are no longer interested in delivering 10 blue links but are highly focused on monetizing queries.

Understanding their intent will help you understand the algorithm.

Some things to consider:

Dial down your "commercial intent" on page, kill some of the signals that scream "buy now".

Bolt on additional content to compliment/dilute your commercial content.

Stop the magical thinking and the promotion of google as a search engine, they are interested in monetizing the worlds information, putting an ad overlay on anything they can.

You won't defeat the lion by pretending it is a rabbit.