Back at one

It looks like Google has been tweaking their search engine to give weblogs a bit less favorable ranking . If you try these first-name searches I did last year, you'll see the majority has had to give up some Google mojo. This weblog used to be the number one search result when you did a google search for "Luke", now it's #13.

I just noticed though that the new number one result for that search is... sharpreader.net!

This does not make any sense to me. True, my SharpReader site has a higher pagerank (8) than my weblog (7), and it does mention my name, but unlike my weblog, sharpreader.net does not have "Luke" in it's <title>, nor do I think many incoming links to sharpreader.net are named "Luke". Also, some sites in the 2-12 range have pageranks as low as 5, so the higher pagerank of sharpreader.net does not really explain things either...

Maybe the pigeons are just tired...

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Comments

For what its worth, this might shed some light... http://www.bbspot.com/News/2004/07/google_search_results.html

Posted by Christian at July 27, 2004 2:44 AM

I've recently noticed odd things too. A search for Brian Hampson brings up a site, which was mentioned along with my name in the same post in a blog by Dave Winer. So, the #1 hit for my name has nothing to do with my name. Hmmmm Google.

Posted by Brian Hampson at July 27, 2004 1:42 PM

Google New Search Formula

Trackback from Anatoly Lubarsky: Weblog at July 30, 2004 6:08 AM

Sorry to ask this question here, but I couldn't find any contact info for you. In SharpReader when I change the maxage of a feed, it always goes back to default once I shut it down. How do I save my preferences?

Posted by Jon Dark at July 30, 2004 9:40 AM

You guys might like bradfallon.com as he seems to know a lot about this stuff and tests things a lot.

Posted by David Hooper at September 11, 2004 6:57 PM

I'm not sure I fully understand the logic behind lowering the ranking of ALL blogs. Certainly some Blogs demonstrate even greater relevance and value to the internet then some websites. The New York Times, for example, is going full force in adapting it's business model by recruiting new talent to further advance its' role with Blogs : http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-45-20041206NYTimescomSeeksFreshTalentasitPrepsforRedesign.html . So, if the New York Times is blogging, shouldn't the search engines also recognize their importance? Why not rank them high, if they are well designed, and high in value?

Posted by Tom Levine at December 10, 2004 11:54 PM
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