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I have always been a big Google fan and my admiration remains in tact ... but I am concerned that the recent displays of inconsistent update scheduling may have detrimental effects on the perception of Google's stability for webmasters world wide. I realize that it has only been a few months of erratic behaviour, but radical changes send up a red flag for me and signals that perhaps, like DMOZ, they may be experiencing technical problems which could drag on indefinitely. This isn't an unreasonable perception as we have all seen it happen to major search engines such as Alta Vista and Excite (amongst others) in the past couple of years.
We've also all noted that the Google team have been busy "tweaking" the algorithm substantially from month to month of late, producing glaring changes in the PR of various sites. They go up and down, links are lost and gained. But through it all, search results don't seem to change too drastically ... and inquiries don't seem to be affected to a large extent. This has provided a certain sense of security for us all. But is this a false security?
I have this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that something is wrong at Google. I can't explain it ... its just there.
The only other time this happened to me was when I "felt" there might be a problem with Inktomi. Certain things began to happen (at canada.com) and although I was assured by many in the know that there was nothing at all wrong ... it turned out in the end that I was absolutely right. It was, in fact, the beginning of what was a very major blip which took Inktomi nearly two years to recover from. In my opinion, they have never really recovered from that "blip" and it left a gaping hole in internet search which allowed Google to ride into the fray and pen the deal with Yahoo, which nobody can argue, kick started their domination as "the" internet search provider.
I've done little to my site since the last update and none of what I did was to try to advance my ranking in the SERPS ... so I can honestly say that I have no reason to have the jitters. My feelings are inexplicable I admit, and I apologize to those of you whom I may have managed to upset more so than you already might be. I just have that same nagging feeling I had when, what I refer to as the great Inktomi crash of 2001, took place. Its very worrisome.
My question is ... do any of the senior members and mods of WebmasterWorld have any of the same concerns? I have good reason to trust my gut instincts ... but (obviously) none of you do. I'd like to know if any of you have raised an eyebrow more than once in the past few months in regards to Google's update behaviour? If so, what are your concerns and why?
My apologies to GoogleGuy and those who feel this post may provoke a panic situation. My intentions are pure and I simply want to know if the senior members and mods feel that there may be something up at Google? If I were a member of the "subscribers forum", I would save this question for that arena. Alas, not yet ... but soon I hope! :)
What I'm seeing is that if the stage were being set for PFI eventually, it's demonstrably workable, except for the fact that Page Rank would have to be compensated for somehow because newly included pages don't reflect that factor - not that we can see. And I can't see how it would be possible to do that on the fly.
My question is ... do any of the senior members and mods of WebmasterWorld have any of the same concerns?
It seems to be the consensus that there's not a reason for concern. Changes are normal and testing is normal. If it takes longer than we usually expect I think we can gather that they're just ensuring that the quality of the next index will be equal to those we've grown accustomed to.
GoogleGuy:
I'll speak up as a senior member. Liane, I appreciate your concern, but I'm not at all worried.
