Google Privacy Changes

It’s been less than a fortnight since they threw Social back into Search with their Search, Plus Your World product but Google are grabbing headlines once again, this time re-working their privacy policies and search algorithms. Whilst changes to their privacy policies have for the most part been met with approval, another round of algorithm changes predictably had many on edge.

Consolidating the policies of their 60+ products into one easy-to-read document, the company has already received praise from European Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding for its amends. The fact that changes to European data privacy laws are looming, we’re sure, has very little to do with this simplification of their policies. But with these typically long-winded and overly jargonised documents now reduced down to one user-friendly policy that even your Grandmother could understand, the move seems a rare coup for the consumer.

Perplexing SEO Types

Also benefitting users, Google’s search algorithm changes are now favouring sites which show restraint when it comes to on-site advertising. In a blog post on the subject, Matt Cutts (an SEO specialist at Google) explained:

“This algorithmic change does not affect sites who place ads above-the-fold to a normal degree, but affects sites that go much further to load the top of the page with ads to an excessive degree or that make it hard to find the actual original content on the page.”

Whilst all this sounds great, the vagueness surrounding what exactly constitutes “an excessive degree” is now something perplexing SEO types the world over. Further rubbing salt into the wound, Google’s own search results have been highlighted as seemingly flaunting these guidelines giving this latest change a “do what we say, not what we do” feel.