Comments on: Authority FTW: Blog Posts in Google Universal Search

By: SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 8, 2009

SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 8, 2009 — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:04:56 +0000

[...] Authority FTW: Blog Posts in Google Universal Search, Small Business SEM [...]

By: Matt McGee

Matt McGee — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:52:30 +0000

This isn’t “the same pot” — this is stuff pulled out of Google Blog Search and showing up as a universal search unit. It’s not blog posts showing up in regular search.

By: Foolish Sage

Foolish Sage — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:46:40 +0000

Not sure why this is a surprise. Blogs are thrown into the same pot as all other web sites for Google “regular” search. In regular search, prominence in returns is determined by PageRank (authority) and other factors. As you youself said, that is why they created a separate blog search tool where something other than PageRank comes into play.

By: Matt McGee

Matt McGee — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:34:58 +0000

Glen, the Google rep that spoke at SMX West on my panel did say that the authority knob is turned up when deciding what to show in universal search. My point here is that it’s turned up too much when 3-month-old posts are still appearing.

David — yes, RS and many other authoritative sources have written TONS since February.

By: David Mihm

David Mihm — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:44:23 +0000

What a lame search result. I think this authority kick that Google is on might be starting to get a little out of control. Just because something is on HuffPo doesn’t mean that it’s good, let alone that it deserves to stay relevant for two and a half weeks. There’s plenty of good content out there on independent blogs.

Rolling Stone strikes me as more “ok” even though it’s older, since music is totally their thing. But is that really the last time RS wrote about U2? Surely there is a more recent post G could be pulling?

By: Glen Allsopp

Glen Allsopp — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:46:23 +0000

Hmm, I’m not sure if that is a glitch or as you say, a clear boost because of authority. There could of course be something in the algorithm for the blog results in universal search that posts that had a lot of attention (links) stay there for longer.

Although, of course, that defies the point of them being fresh and relevant.

Update: – The page on its own has 94 links, including one from Wikipedia. I wonder if that is the reason it’s showing, not just because it’s from the rolling stone.