The article below highlights the issue publishers have with Google’s Algorithm: Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird.
Google may reject and deny publishers claims but there are countless cases worldwide.
Just as Google blankly rejects ALL claims, it can be argued the algorithms blankly affect ALL results.
DIRECTORY
The most obvious claim would be Google’s Penguin de-ranking every “directory” type website. We understand there were many bad directories but not all were bad. We had been publishing business directories since 1998.
It is a perfectly legitimate business selling advertising (business listing) online in a directory style format. But, according to Google it is not.
It lumped all directories into one basket and dumped the lot.
Google Search Staff
I write this thinking about a staff member in search reading it.
They just started fidgeting wanting to defend their employer.
Google is a monolith!
Even if my points are 100% valid and true, none of the staff have the power to effect change.
The board rules, money rules, Google rules.
The very same algorithms that affect search rankings will one day affect Google employees.
We’ll wait and see how they feel about the Algorithm then.
Google slams News Corp ‘algorithm review board’ hopes
Google has slammed News Corp’s proposal for the government to introduce a review panel to scrutinise algorithms used by digital platforms, telling the competition regulator the publisher’s idea was ‘‘ unnecessary and ill-conceived’’ .
In a second submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) inquiry into digital platforms, the search giant claimed that an algorithm review board would not be practical, and more transparency could expose the search engine to being manipulated by bad actors.
It said “mandating disclosure of Google’s algorithms would conflict with long-standing legal protections for trade secrets and other intellectual property’ ’ and would prompt ‘‘ serious’ ’ questions as to how a review scheme would operate and its purpose.
The ACCC is in the final weeks of preparing a preliminary report for the government as part of a worldfirst inquiry about the impact of the digital platforms, such as Facebook and Google, on media publishers and their advertising revenues.
Google’s additional comments to the regulator comes after months of forums, submissions and scathing criticism from media companies. Fairfax Media (owner of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age) has an advertising partnership with Google.
An algorithm review board was a key piece of Rupert Murdochowned News Corp’s 144-page submission to the ACCC in May, which blamed the US-based behemoths Facebook and Google for the ‘‘ rapid spread of misinformation’ ’ and the creation of echo chambers.
The board the publisher had in mind would analyse the impacts of changes to the algorithms on publishers and remove any incentives for the technology companies to distribute lower quality content.
“Based on allegations that Google is not sufficiently transparent about how its algorithms work … some comments to the ACCC propose that an independent “Algorithm Review Board” be established to review Google’s search algorithms. The specific nature of this proposal remains unclear, however the proposal is unnecessary and raises the potential for abuse and undesirable outcomes for stakeholders including users, publishers and platforms,’’ Google’s submission says.
Google also rejected claims it promotes advertising-based media sites at the expense of subscription news services in search results.
‘‘ Proposals that Google Search be treated like or regulated as a news publisher and require Google to verify the accuracy and legality of news content online are misguided,’’ the search platform says.
“Google is constantly engaged in finding the right balance between providing transparency about how Search works while playing a cat and mouse game against sites that try to “game” Google’s algorithms without providing any benefits to users.’’
Source: The Age Digital Edition: Google slams News Corp ‘algorithm review board’ hopes
This article is from the October 30, 2018 issue of The Age Digital Edition.
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