Allegra Observations

Google's Allegra Update is still going on - this is the longest update in recent memory. Aside from the disappearance of vast swathes of websites, this update also includes an algorithm change which is not index wide but seems to be placed on specific keywords just the way the Florida Update was in 2003.

Google's results are still changing frequently and when it will all settle down is anyone's guess. With the Florida Update they applied their algorithm change to sets of keywords and then added more to the list in the following days and weeks. I suspect that is what is happening with Allegra as well.

There has been some speculation that the major changes in Google that are being seen with this current update are due to Google beginning to use Latent Semantic Indexing - which is basically a method used by search engines to learn to associate certain terms with concepts. Whatever you call it, something along those lines is taking place.

Here is an example... It used to be (forever and ever) that if you searched for "anycity relocations" the results would show mostly real estate sites. Now for many of the larger cities it will show mostly moving sites - Google now associates relocations with moving and not with buying real estate. Some smaller cities still show real estate sites but I suspect that will change just like what happened in the Florida Update.

There is more about LSI in this thread.

Supposedly when LSI is applied to a set of keywords the results will show sites that talk about the keyword and not sites about the keyword itself. So, what is happening now for example, is that for searches for a company name no longer shows the actual company website. Instead the first several pages of results will show sites that mention the company in passing. I find it hard to believe that any searchers find such results to be of benefit.

All of this is wonderful for Google as it drives more business to advertise using Google's Adwords product rather than relying on their search engine results as is evidenced by their recent record increase in profits.

It seems to me that the focus is no longer on creating the best search engine but in crafting a search engine where the results are just good enough to satisfy searchers and just bad enough to force business to pay Google for Adwords. It is a fine line for sure but I think it will only work in the short term. When a business takes the focus off making things better for their customers and puts it on making things better for themselves it leaves the door wide open for competitors.

Someone else can become the search engine of choice so fast it will make your head spin - just like Google did when Altavista's search results deteriorated and users fled to Google.

Google's search results now bear little resemblance to the search results that people used to consider "the best on the planet" and caused people to flock to them in droves. Changing results that the majority considered great to the results we now see can't be a good thing (when you are at the top there is only one way to go so how can making such drastic changes be helpful?). The word "GoogleVista" keeps flashing through my mind for some reason!