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Google must be open with its search engine algorithms

July 12th 2010

Search Engine Optimisation News

Google must be more open with its search engine algorithms if it is to ensure it does not become corrupt, it has been claimed.

According to Siva Vaidhyanathan, an associate professor of media studies at the University of Virginia, even if Google's engineers are well meaning when they created the latest batch of search engine marketing algorithms, that may not be enough.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Vaidhyanathan claimed that humans write those algorithms in the first instance and therefore there is an aspect of editorial judgment in terms of what content Google displays for certain search terms.

"I don't think it's anywhere near being nefarious - but algorithms are not just pure rules that arrive out of nowhere," Vaidhyanathan said.
Adding: "We can't be sure that Google ten years from now won't be corrupt - or that whoever is the dominant search engine won't be corrupt."

If Google does become more open with its search engine marketing requirements, the whole field of search engine optimisation could be subject to change.

Google's defence to the secrecy surrounding its search marketing algorithms is that it provides website owners with a huge amount of information on how to mount a successful search engine marketing campaign.

And Google is wary of being too open because it fears unscrupulous individuals will abuse the search engine - potentially spamming their way to the top of its search engine rankings.

Recently, the European Commission launched an investigation into the way Google is run, citing "anti-competitive conduct" as the reason the inquiry was launched.

Matthew Readings, a partner in the London office of law firm Shearman & Sterling, said that the investigation was more about whether Google will control the search engine market in the future - as opposed to the firm's existing market share.

He also added that intervention in the technology sector was never simple or straightforward, suggesting that the investigation into Google's business could be a drawn-out process.

And the continued pressure being piled on Google is likely to impact on other search engine marketing companies - either positively or negatively.

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