Just a few days back, Google announced that it had changed its search results algorithm. Normally Google tweaks its algorithm frequently from time to time, but this time the change was considered to be a major one.
Many of the changes we make are so subtle that very few people notice them. But in the last day or so we launched a pretty big algorithmic improvement to our ranking—a change that noticeably impacts 11.8% of our queries—and we wanted to let people know what’s going on. This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.
We can’t make a major improvement without affecting rankings for many sites. It has to be that some sites will go up and some will go down. Google depends on the high-quality content created by wonderful websites around the world, and we do have a responsibility to encourage a healthy web ecosystem. Therefore, it is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that’s exactly what this change does.
These changes are expected to primarily affect the so-called “content farms”, ie the websites which reproduce content or post content based on the search-trends of the day.
If you want, you can test the change and see how it has impacted search queries or even your websites status.
To see the Google results as they appeared before the algorithm change visit the IP address 64.233.179.104. To see the current results, simply visit Google.com.
While some have reported drops of upto 40% in the last few days, The Windows Club does not seem to be majorly affected either way.
As an end-user have you noticed or liked the changes? As a blogger have you noticed any change in your website traffic?
