Thread: Despite New Panda Guidelines, Google Still Burying Authoritative Results

There are a lot of elements of Google’s Panda update to discuss, and we’ve certainly discussed many of them over the last few months, but let’s not lose sight of the reason the update was launched to begin with – to improve search quality.
Do you think Google’s search results are better now? Tell us what you think.
While quality is often in the eye of the beholder, there are certain kinds of queries where the information being retrieved is simply more important than others. We’ve talked about this before, as it’s been a problem in some Google results.
One example we’ve looked at a few times is where an eHow article written by a freelance writer with no clear authority on cancer (and whose body of work includes a lot of plumbing-related articles) was ranking at the top of Googe’s results for the query “level 4 brain cancer” above numerous other sources that would seem to be of greater authority on such a subject.

Despite New Panda Guidelines, Google Still Burying Authoritative Results | WebProNews

I guess we will talk about the last Google update for a while, and wait for the next one

Let's say I play devil's advocate. The article discusses the results for the query “level 4 brain cancer” and how a freelance writer ranks higher than sites that should be considered authority.

O.K. Here's my logic. I have no idea what “level 4 brain cancer” is. Sounds serious though. 1) I suspect that I have “level 4 brain cancer”. I should seek medical attention right away. I shouldn't be wasting any time on Google. 2) I hear about “level 4 brain cancer” and what to find out more. The short article is going to serve my purpose more than a scientific paper. 3) A web page isn't going to replace a book. A book covers one topic and can be from 300-500 pages. 4) Medical books and journals are the places that academics and doctors should be researching.

So, what I'm saying is that the layman article may be more useful for the end user.

If eHow.com is more authoritative in this case then medical book and medical journal sites, yes Google is playing evil.

These days the Search Engine Ranking Page aka SERP, doesn't mean anything anymore.

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

If eHow.com is more authoritative in this case then medical book and medical journal sites, yes Google is playing evil.

Again as devil's advocate, let's say that I'm "Joe Sixpack". I don't want to read a medical book and medical journal. So, the eHow result would be the most useful for me the user.

For medical books and medical journals, the user needs to buy them. There's no way that these are being given away for free.

Interesting article that I found: Teen Discovers Promising Cystic Fibrosis Treatment - Yahoo! News

Marshall Zhang, an 16yo 11th-grade student at Richmond Hill's Bayview Secondary School discovers promising Cystic Fibrosis Treatment.

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

These days the Search Engine Ranking Page aka SERP, doesn't mean anything anymore.

Most search engine users don't go beyond the 1st page results. Part of the problem is that people are lazy.