Google May Day Algorithm Update

Gone are the days when Google would update it's ranking algorithm only semi-annually. On those momentus occassions the SEOs (search engine optimizers) would fill the forums with posts about which datacenters the new algorithm was showing up on, and what it was doing to their ranking. Google now updates its algorithm on an average rate of nearly one a day, if you are to believe Matt Cutts of Google. Many of the changes are minor, but some are significant enough, and noticable enough to be name, just like in the old days.

The "May Day" update, that showed up last month, in May of course, reportedly has had a significant effect on "long tail" traffic to some websites. Long tail traffic refers to traffic from search phrases consisting of more than three-words. Long tail searches are less competetive and have historically been much easier to rank well in. That may be changing. Google has been messing around with the long tail for some time, both in their natural search algorithm, as well as their Adwords pay per click algorithm. This is likely a move in the same direction, towards big brands and away from a more "democratic" Web.

I promote a number of Websites on Google and haven't noticed a drop-off in traffic, so "May Day" looks like a change that effects websites that get most of their traffic from the long tail. If it is a change that is truely aimed at improving the quality of search results by minimizing SPAM, I'm all for it. If it's a move designed to somehow push people towards larger companies who tend to provide Google with more income, as have been the majority of their updates recently, then it will result in lower quality search results. That has been the way Google has been drifting in the last couple of years. We'll see how this change plays out.

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