Google’s search engine is displaying Frankenstein-esque characteristics. Like the fictional scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who created a monster more powerful than its master, Google’s algorithm designed to rid the Internet of spammy links is proving difficult, if not impossible, to control.
In June, CNBC.com reported on a Google algorithm called Panda that crawls the Web to periodically push what the search provider considers lower-quality sites down in the rankings while elevating better pages. The result is that some small Web businesses that rely on Google for traffic can be decimated overnight.
The whole article is worth a read.
Many people consider Google to be synonymous with “search” because it’s all they know. It’s their default. In reality, there are superior search engines out there. Bing, Blekko, and DuckDuckGo all offer a superior experience and better results than Google does. DuckDuckGo in particular has grown in popularity because of its explicit promise not to track its users. There’s no good reason to use Google for search when there are alternatives that do the job better and don’t snoop on you.