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General discussion

Google updating search engine?

Mar 8, 2006 4:29AM PST

I have three Google alerts set to notify me when Google indexes new pages containing search terms that I specify. (see www.google.com/alerts). I am notified, in Google's terms, "as it happens." I usually receive 2 emails a day (the third one is for my home town, which doesn't appear often). However, today I have received no less than 10 emails with a lot more links to stories than I usually receive. Makes me wonder if the update that Matt Cutts was talking about in this interview: http://www.revenews.com/colinmcdougall/2006/02/takeaways_from_discussion_with.html is happening now.

To quote from the article:

"With the upcoming Google update rolling out towards the end of this month or possibly early March, there will be a very serious focus on eliminating spam from the index.

"What you can expect to see in the next update:

In November, Matt Cutts mentioned to me that the following issues would be part of the algorithm update that is coming:

1. An increased focus on duplicate content filters.

The duplicate content filters will have more sophistication to determine what site was the original owner for the content. This will eliminate at least 3 problems:

? Scraper sites stealing content and profiting from it.
? Reduce the effectiveness of artificial inflation of link popularity via article distribution. (if performed en-mass, this is manipulation of the SERP?s)
? Automated article generation software

By including advancement with LSI technology into the duplicate content filters, Google will be making a huge step towards the elimination of auto-generated websites which are at the core of search engine spam.

2. 302 redirect exploit problem is supposed to be fixed. Finally!"

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And there is more. Anyone else getting a lot of Google alerts or maybe they know something else?

Discussion is locked

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More Updates
Mar 8, 2006 6:12AM PST

Recently I have been noticing that Google indexes my website a lot more often. I JUST changed one page a couple of days ago and it has already updated the search results. GOOO GOOGLE!

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AWESOME - duplicate content filters
Mar 8, 2006 6:42AM PST

YES. Bring it on, Google. I'm so sick of seeing multiple returns on the exact same thing. I'd like my page 1 results to be unique pages instead of having to dig all the way down to page 3 or 4 for something relevant and different.

-Kevin S.

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Still getting more than usual...
Mar 9, 2006 1:03AM PST

As I stated in my previous message, I usually get 2-3 Google alerts each day.

Today, I've received 7 alerts (and it's only noon). Yesterday, I received a total of 19.

I think they're doing some major updating.

Unfortunately, some of it is spam. "Find singles now near Terre Haute, IN."