kapow - 12:36 pm on Nov 28, 2004 (gmt 0)

...better* pages ranking higher than lower quality pages is what the engines have to strive for

Imagine you own a popular engine... what the engines have to strive for is what makes them the most money for the longest time. And that depends on the searching publics opinions and behaviours (not webmasters). So the engines need to do what ever converts the searching publics opinion and behaviour, that might be: Relevance, TV-advertising, stupid flashing things on screen, nice clear screen, IPO that dominates the news for an age....
By 'publics behaviours' I mean - what they click e.g. an Ad or a free listing. Imagine you own that engine (just try not be be an SEO for a minute) what does the engine owner want them to click?
And what makes more Ads? a sandbox perhaps.

We can all think its bad that a significant site is not ranking on Google, but do the searching public really notice? My referral logs suggest not. google, google, google (don't you just hate google).

What webmasters/SEOs have to strive for is whatever gets the most traffic (and the right kind of traffic) to their site. You might get excited about ranking No1 for 'keyword keyword' in MSN, but does it bring you the traffic you need, compared to ranking No1 for 'keyword keyword' in Google?

Currently I rank in the top 3 for my target phrase on Google, Yahoo and MSN. What scares me is most of my customers find me in Google. I wish more people would use Yahoo and MSN because it would make it easier for me, but wishing and liking doesn't pay the rent. So currently I'm not that fussed about Yahoo or MSN, but I'm watching public preference and waiting for algo changes (on the engines the public prefers currently).