Google Mayday Algorithm Update

It seems like, lately, Google algorithms have been changing more frequently than they’ve been staying the same. With between 350 and 550 changes in 2009 alone, it’s fair to say that the site’s algorithms are in constant flux. The most recent change, however, is substantial enough for even those who don’t follow algorithmic changes to take notice. Called “Mayday,” the rankings change focuses on impacting long tail traffic to improve the quality of the sites it pulls in any given search. Most people who are in the know view this as a pretty big deal, and yet another reason why no one should stake their site on a small set of real or perceived algorithms.

But what does this mean for sites today? More so than anything else, the change is going to impact large sites that have single item pages that don’t have links leading into them, such as ecommerce sites. Since these sites operate on a much different platform than regular sites (for example, those who have links pointing to just about every page), they are at a massive disadvantage when it comes to being affected by Google’s new algorithm update. This is not to say that disaster is imminent, but it is a situation that most people would be quite content to avoid.

Most people who have been talking about this change view it as being long-term, which means that site owners need to adapt to the change rather than boycott it and wait for it to go away. The best bet for most site-owners is to be sure that their pages are well-linked and isolate those that are not so that they can be fixed. This should be reason enough for people to realize that relying on real or perceived algorithms is not a wise idea, and is in many ways similar to putting all of your eggs in one basket. Those who continue to do so will have to pay the price of evolving with the technology, which isn’t always an easy thing to do.