This is completely the wrong thing to do and in my opinion this means that, Google have essentially just admitted they're bad at search.

Firstly, for ecommerce sites etc due to the lack of content - especially unique content (because there are only so many ways you can say something is X length) these sites are forced to SEO themselves. This is even more apparent as Google are placing their “Google Product Search” within the results as well. Sure, you could add yourself to Google Product Search but that’s not the point - Google should be adding ecommerce sites etc in their automatically to make it a level playing field. Sure, you can argue that it is hard to do and that might be the case but, there is proof out there in the marketplace to highlight that this is possible - look at what TheFind etc are doing in this space. Additionally, I think there is a lot more that can be done in the Shopping Search space as well as other areas of search which I will cover below.

Having covered those, I will also highlight another problem which is hindering Google = their search engine is based around the Pagerank algorithm which despite evolving is actually hurting Google in trying to solve the problem of SEO.

I believe this is the case because of PageRank and the general Google Search algorithms which are in place – their search at its core is based on 'citations' like those in academic papers etc (yes it has evolved over time) but it is still even loosely based and developed upon on this ranking system. Hence there is the problem of paid links - although you can report them [1] this reporting method actually isn't effective and doesn't work. Additionally, there are tons of ways to get links really easily which appear natural, won’t appear overly seo’d and are extremely easy to get and game as well.

Google seems to be taking their search into the, Semantic & Social Search approaches which they will probably solve some of these aspects but, everyone is working out (and many have already worked out) how to game social search although, it is a step in at least a decent direction.

Currently, Google just provides links and documents etc to the ones which it believes is the most useful based on their Pagerank/keyword approach and even if it can improve search to a much greater degree the issue is also related to Adsense/Adwords.

This is because; these two print money for Google. For instance, Adwords really is used for Google Search (yes it does feed into Adsense as well but Advertisers really want their ads on Google Search Results). The last statistic I heard about Google Search, is around 2007 when Google was making $0.12 on average per search – you could probably calculate easily how much Google is making now by looking at their income and dividing it by publicly available search numbers but, I’m going to say it’s more than that because in 2004, they were making $0.09 per search. This is actually an issue for the user because, I believe Google really just want their ad results to be perfect – they don’t really want you to have to click on the result because then Google isn’t making any money – as long as their results are good enough so then they’re Ok with that If you don’t believe me, take a look at [2] that’s a whole lot of ads above the fold. Oh, and if you try and do that be prepared to be punished [3].

Now Adsense, sure it doesn’t make that much of Google’s income but it still is highly profitable – if it wasn’t they wouldn’t be doing it. If Google, really wants to fix search then they need to review every single Adsense site and I mean every single Adsense site since Google only reviews the site which you apply with. This leads of a huge problem as MFA’s aka. Made For Adsense slip through the net afterwards and if you look at their sites, they’re generally have poor content etc and are optimised for the search engine and the user to leave either by clicking the back button. Sure, Google will lose some Adsense income on their balance sheet but if they want to fix search this is also a good place to start.

Sure they're trying to solve this issue and get to grips with it but I don't think they will anywhere in the near future. You can argue this fix they have announced will solve some SEO problems but, as I said in my opening sentence I believe this is the wrong approach and some of the above reasons highlight several issues already but there are tons more. In fact, I actually hope you disagree with me because, not only do I value your opinion but am interested in the other aspects you may add to it.

[1] https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/paidlinks?pli=1

[2] http://searchengineland.com/figz/wp-content/seloads/2012/01/...

[3] http://searchengineland.com/too-many-ads-above-the-fold-now-...