Heisenberg + Google

Joe Gregorio

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that you can't measure a thing without changing it. What google does is measure the web.

This topic came up obliquely at the RTP bloggers lunch yesterday. The topic turned to the fact that Google loves bloggers, ranks us highly and that eventually they would tune their ranking parameters to put us bloggers back down further on the list where we belong.

Google rewards good web behaviour: changing, linking and being linked to. It rewards those sites with higher page ranks. Don't want to play nicely on the web, like NPR and their idiotic policy about linking to them or the NYTimes and their dearth of links in stories, and you will be punished with low rankings. Don't believe me? Then why does the NYTimes, with all their content and all their reporters only have a page rank of 8 while Mark Pilgrim has a page rank of 7 and Dave Winer a page rank of 8?

Since the blogger lunch I have mulled this idea of Google changing it's ranking system to de-rate bloggers. Should Google change to accomodate the web, or should the web change to accomodate Google? For example: right now bitworking.org has a much higher page rank than the web site of my employer. [Do not bother looking, I have never mentioned them, their industry or their location in this blog. Ever.] I do know that I could put together a website for them that is structured like a blog, with frequent entries of links to news items from their particular industry, and short notes attached about how the company relates to that news item, maybe publish some white papers and mix in some press releases all done regularly on the home page. They could very quickly rise to a higher page rank and become authoritative in their industry, at least as far as Google is concerned. Is this better than the current static brochure-ware website? Yes. Everybody including current customers, future customers, shareholders, employees, and the web in general would be that much richer for a site like that.

So no, Google shouldn't change. The web needs to change to accomodate Google. Link, link to, be authoratitive on a subject, keep current and offer information others want and need and you'll succeed in Google's eyes. Let page-rank stand as the carrot and the stick of good web behaviour.

"The internet should change for Google"??? Are you crazy> Google is a nothing compared to the internet as a whole. Sure alot of people search on it but the whole internet should change so Google can more accuratly do better page ranks... Here is an article to show you what <b></b><a href="http://www.eyeflow.com/googlepagerank.htm"> Google Page Rank </a> is doing now.

Posted by Tom V on 2004-02-05

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