Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
This is a pseudo conversation I had with myself about why things may be happening the way they are.
Not so sure about posting this... maybe it won't make it past the moderators but here goes...
If I ran the world, or at least the search portion of it...
After reading the actual patent application, most of the thread on the patent application, and the 'cliff top algo' thread I started to ask myself why? Why would I do this?
Why would I drop high-quality results for lesser ones?
Why would I penalize a high-quality, high-ranking site for a site redirecting to them? Because, I can't tell the difference?
Something doesn't smell right... I have some of the brightest minds in the world and they can't figure out how to tell the difference between the site doing the directing and the one being directed to? They can't figure out how to tell the difference between spam and content? What? How much do I pay these guys? Maybe I need to increase my turnover a little.
I wonder if there is a reason why I don't want to figure it out? Highly relevant sites that have had large numbers of clicks, suddenly gone from my results... Maybe, I don't want my results too relevant.
Why would that be? Maybe, if a site has made 100's of thousands, or millions off of the clicks I am giving them disappears, maybe they will pay to be listed on the first page again. Then maybe, just maybe if the sites on the right over there became more relevant than the ones in the middle, well, maybe I could train my users to click over there instead of in the middle. ...might be on to something here.
What! Is that possible? If I purposely make my results less relevant I make more money? No way, but maybe... Wait, yes, yes that makes sense, if I find a way to make people pay for what is free right now I make more money. Hmmmm
Blast the seo industry? Because they dominate the results? No, I get it, they're making a bundle off of me and they are responsible for making my results in the middle of the page too relevant, so nobody clicks over there to the right on the ones I get paid for.
What? If I can find a way to make people pay, then I have a contract? Right, good point, good point, if I have a contract there is a lot less to worry about with copyrights and infringement, and if I 'reserve the right to make changes' then I am always in control, good thinking.
Hey guys, let's make the results suck... What? Oh, do it slow? Huh? The advertising, yeah right, I don't have enough yet, but I can make the results get progressively worse, right? Until we can 'fix it.' Yes, I mean fix the advertising.
Webmasters? Who? Oh, those guys... Tell them we are working on 'fixing it.' No, PLEASE, don't tell them the advertising is what we are fixing, just say 'fixing it.'
Hey, can we stop listing new sites right away, but still apply the algo? Yes, I mean save time, memory, bandwidth, and if they are really optimized, make them wait longer... If they can afford a SEO, they can afford to pay for a listing, besides it gets them used to paying to be listed in my results.
Patent everything? Why, I am going to make people pay, highest bidder wins, right? I can cripple the competition before they get their full system in place? OK, do it, yes everything, the garbage can too if it's not already in there. So, what if they throw some of it out... You never know if you don't ask.
These are some things I thing are often misconceived when discussing the path of a search engine business, or in this case... my business if I ruled the search world...
For clarity 'results' should be considered middle of the page, anything else relates to the whole page/user experience.
Misconception #1: I must provide high-quality results to remain the most widely used search engine.
This is false, I have to provide the best experience for a specific user somewhere on the page they visit that they can find consistently. EG I can use different portions of my page to target a specific user profile, and as long as it is consistent and identifiable, they will still feel comfortable with their portion of the page I deliver to them.
Misconception #2: I have a resonsibility to my users to provide the best site for a specific query.
This is false, the only responsibility I have is to increase value for my share holders. Period. If I decrease my traffic by 10%, but increase paid clicks 15%, I win twice - 1. I make more money by increasing my paid clicks. 2. I save money be decreasing traffic and bandwidth. (I would not want to continue this path forever, but during a period of transition, I would expect some fall-out.)
Misconception #3: I really care about the quality of my results.
This is false, I care only about queries, visits, click thoroughs, and user experience... as long as these continue the results in the middle of the page don't matter.
My transition would be slow, measured and persistent, understanding there would be bumps and ugliness along the way, but if I could transition from free to even 5 cents a click - game over. I win.
This is a portion of what happened inside my head while I was reading through some of the posts, gives you an idea of where I think things are going. Just my opinion could be wrong, could be dumb but maybe, just maybe I'm right...
