Googles results are getting worse and worse yet their ads on search pages seem so well targetted. Wouldnt it be a good idea if they used the same algo for their searches as they do for their ads?
Now why cant I see that happening? ;-)

I don't think its as much that thier algo is getting worse but that people are getting better at optimizing and thus cheapening the results. Google will just have to look at the latest wave of google gossip and change accordingly as they have for years.

That may be true in some cases but it seems to me at the end of last year (florida etc) there were major changes made to Google and since then the results seem to be full of irrelevent rubbish and directories. The changes they made have not improved results (IMO) so why make them? It has not cleaned up anything, its worse than it was. Its like they decide it was broken and they didnt fix it, they broke it some more.
I could understand if it was the same old game of people simply optimising and acheiving results but it seems like most of the top results are almost there by default. In my niche the site that often has the number one spot has not been updated for years and is totally crap, while alot of my old competitors who like myself have good content and are updated all the time are nowhere to be seen.
If I was the cynical type I could almost believe they were encouraging searchers to use their ads to find the site they need rather than bothering with the dodgy results that get served up on the left. If you were into short term thinking or perhaps given your plans, were only concerned with the short term this would make sense.

I hate to say this, but I may have to start considering using other search engines more often. I've been pretty addicted to just using Google the past few years, but over the past year it's been giving more and more obviously highly SEO'd sites which makes it hard to find what I'm looking for.

LOL Highly SEO'd sites I can Live with, its all about doing a btter job than they have, simple Logic to work with. For my area though it seems the only logic is to make a directory(which I am doing) or just throw up a rubbish site and never update it. Thats the only trend I can see to follow.
So in the long term there will be loads of rubbish directories (how many do we need?) and loads of rubbish sites but Google wont mind as their ads will still be getting clicked but they will be clicked via their search page rather than a publishers web site, equalling no cut for the publisher and all cash to Google.

I've recently noticed considerable SERP differences (e.g. 56 - 33) using the varied Google datacenters for tracking some of my client websites. In addition, there are a few variances in BLs. This seems to have just occurred today.

Is anyone else seeing similar results?

Yep. Seeing some minor differences.
I dont really monitor this too much, isnt it normal to see a slight variance? (I say slight with regards to the ammount of sites affected rather than the difference in placement)

Thanks for posting this topic. I totally agree. Google search has got some major malfunctions going on. Why is it a directory I submitted my site to, is getting better rankings then my site itself? This new algo they are using, which is suppose to be patented technology, it frankly seems to suck a big one. The search results are pathetic. My site was coming it at number one and then they changed something and my site which I've had online for a year and have it registered for 3 years, shot to page number 2. WTF is that about and in it's place is a bunch of directories and link pages. Many of which have links to mys site on them. So my question is, why are directories giving predominence over the true websites?

I don't optimize, I don't really do much SEO. I really can't because my site is a dating service site. What can I optimize on a dating service page which has mostly just photos and no room for text.

All I'm saying is Google seriously has some problems with their new search algo changes. Terrible at best.

Originally Posted by cptnwinky

I don't think its as much that thier algo is getting worse but that people are getting better at optimizing and thus cheapening the results. Google will just have to look at the latest wave of google gossip and change accordingly as they have for years.

that's pretty much exactly what i would have to say ... so i'll just leave the quote say it

i think google hasn't gotten worse, it's gotten a little lazy at catching up with people