Earlier this year Google announced that it would address the problem of certain sites (more commonly known as ‘content farms’) propagating what they classify as “shallow” or “low quality” information, from appearing in the ‘top listings’ of their search results.  By implementing significant changes to their ranking algorithm, Google has ensured that the quality of the material displayed is of a high standard, maintaining their integrity as a search engine that returns relevant results; listing sources of credible information in higher ranking positions.   The changes were announced by Amit Singhal and Matt Cutts on Google’s official blog posted last week:

“This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful.  At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis”.

Google makes frequent changes to their algorithms, but historically such modifications have been less significant, and had very little impact on the search results generated.  However, according to Google these particular changes, referred to as the ‘Panda update’ are affecting 12% of search results in the US.   On their official blog, Google acknowledged the impact of the recent changes made to their ranking algorithm:

“Many of the changes we make are so subtle that very few people notice them. But in the last day or so we launched a pretty big algorithmic improvement to our ranking—a change that noticeably impacts 11.8% of our queries”.

While these changes have only been implemented in the US, there are plans to roll them out globally, following the initial Stateside trial, if the impact is as great as it has been in the US, it could revolutionise the way web content is delivered to Google’s audience; prioritising information that is recognised as useful, and credible by Google’s users.

It is worth noting that the recent implementation of the Google Chrome Personal Blocklist Extension, which blocks domains and hosts from appearing in Google search results at a users request, was not used as a direct source for identifying sites that would be targeted by the ‘Panda’ update, although Singhal and Cutts observed that the feedback provided by users via this tool, proved incredibly useful in cross referencing the success of the changes made to their ‘ranking’ algorithm, extracting sites that publish low quality information:

“We did compare the Blocklist data we gathered with the sites identified by our algorithm, and we were very pleased that the preferences our users expressed by using the extension are well represented. If you take the top several dozen or so most-blocked domains from the Chrome extension, then this algorithmic change addresses 84% of them, which is strong independent confirmation of the user benefits [...] we’re working on many more updates that we believe will substantially improve the quality of the pages in our results”.

While the new algorithm is designed to ensure that ranked web pages maintain Google’s credibility as a global network of information, in making these changes, Google further establish themselves as a purveyor of credible sources, actively ensuring they display ‘quality’ content in their search results.  Singhal and Cutts recognise that Google has a significant role to play in encouraging a “healthy web ecosystem” and these changes seek to implement a marked improvement in the quality of the content delivered by Google to its users worldwide.

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In a statement last week Google said that they would be writing the support in a way that will be able to convert WOFF to TrueType fonts for handling by their browser.

WOFF allows browsers to download typefaces that are associated with web pages, therefore allowing web designers to customise their sites appearance.

At the moment most sites use a small set of fonts that are likely to have already come pre-installed with a computer.

In order for a web designer to make a site more distinctive it is necessary for them to have a wider array of typography available to them, just like in an editorial magazine, the font cant make a big difference.

Another advantage of WOFF is that it is able to package a subset of a fonts characters which in turn speeds up the loading of a web page.

WOFF looks as though it will be a welcome addition to the Chrome browser as it has the support of many of the biggest font design companies on the market as well as the leading web browsers’ backing.

WOFF is in the process of being standardised by the World Wide Web Consortium.

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The reason is that Google has decided to take advantage of their unique market position by leveraging the Google homepage – incidentally, the most visited page on the internet – to advertise it. The advert will run above and to the right of the search bar, with the tagline, ‘a faster way to browse the web’. This is incredibly significant as it marks the first time any ad has been displayed on the Google homepage, and a significant diversion from Google’s stated policy of keeping their homepage as clean as possible.

However, seeing as this is Google, it’s not as simple as slapping an ad on the homepage, the ad will display in different ways depending on the user and importantly the browser they are using. Chrome users will be shown nothing, whilst Firefox users will be greeted with a subtle Google pack link. IE users on the other hand (at whom this is really aimed, let’s face it) will be shown the full advert. Either way, expect Chrome usage to skyrocket in the coming weeks.

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Aside from the fact that letting people know about the internet is a worthwhile thing to do for the world’s premier internet company, Google also has a vested interest in informing the public about what web browsers are and therefore that there is a choice between them. The central problem that Google’s own browser, Chrome has had since its inception is the perception that IE, or whichever browser someone happens to use, is the only browser.

It’s simple really, before Google can begin persuading people to change their browser they need to level the playing field by educating people to know that there is an alternative to IE.

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Right after Google Chrome came out of its beta stage, Firefox was unceremoniously dropped as Google’s default browser, losing its place in the Google pack download bundle, and generally being resoundingly replaced by Chrome. This has led to many predicting a rocky future for the browser.

Firefox is still the second best performing browser available, behind only Internet Explorer (it’s not really a fair comparison as IE is artificially propped up by being tied to Windows). However, around 88 percent of its revenue comes straight from Google, in payment for using the search engine as its default and as a percentage of revenue from the resulting click-through ads. Essentially they are almost completely dependant on a company that is now a direct competitor.

Their agreement has been extended through till 2011 though, with Chrome’s star on the rise and no more marketing from Google, it’s hard to see anything other than Firefox fading as Chrome takes over as number two browser, maybe even better.

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However, some Mac fans are sceptical as to whether Chrome really has the ability to replace Safari, the browser of choice for many Mac users. Safari doesn’t suffer from the same bugs and poor reputation that Internet Explorer does and so, it should be harder to displace than the troubled PC browser.

Google are planning a very big marketing push for Chrome this year that may just change a few Mac user’s minds. Plus, there are some very cool updates planned in the near future, such as browser extensions like Firefox has.

We shall see.

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When Explorer has been cut down to size Chrome is in an excellent position to take the reins, most likely from Firefox – who aren’t exactly a Google competitor anyway. Not only is it borrowing the IE trick of getting itself installed with many new computers, it has something that IE never had, a huge, practically all encompassing platform to really push it’s browser – I’m speaking, of course, about the Google search engine, which it has already started using to flog the browser.

Of course it won’t be this simple, I daresay that Microsoft have a game-changing idea or two in them yet, but the momentum is certainly swinging towards Google. At the very least, the days of IE domination are numbered.

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The main reason for this, in my opinion, is that whilst most people still use IE, the browser enjoys little real support. I’d wager that most of the 68% of internet users that use the browser do so because it came installed on their computer and didn’t really have any notion that there was a choice.

We, in the online industries, are prone to forgetting that not everyone knows a lot about computers. For many, if not most, computer users PC use amounts to word processing, email, basic web searching and maybe Facebook. Therefore, Google reasoned that all it would take to for a large proportion of IE users to jump ship, was simply being told that there were other options, and what the benefits would be i.e., you’ll be able to get to your emails (the backbone of casual internet use) easier and faster.

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