I don't think it's the bad actors winning over the algorithm. It's the algorithm forgetting what the internet was actually about.
There was a major search update a few years ago that emphasized "authority". If your website was considered more reputable or an established brand, you ranked higher.
This is completely against the ethos of the internet. The internet was always about new ways to find and organize information. On the internet, CNN has no greater reputation than some random blog. Yet, if you were a mainstream brand, Google would deem you to be more authoritative than some internet-only website.
You can see this most clearly in medical queries. WebM and MayoClinic top the results, even though they're filled with generic fluff. Internet-only websites and forums dedicated to a specific illness rarely get on the front page, even though they have superior information.
Funnily enough, many people on here have the opposite perception of Google: they argue that search results have been hijacked by no-name blogs and that reputable authorities are further down the page.
That, too, has its origins in Google's decision to focus on authority. That opened the gates to SEOs being able to acquire authority signals without actually being an authority or hosting authoritative content.
The topic-specific forum with thousands of pages of detailed user-generated guides and content doesn't have the social media following, domain authority, etc. that Google considers to be "authoritative". Meanwhile, the SEO-spammed trash can easily acquire backlinks and followers to game the system.
Get rid of these authority markers and go back to a more organic web if you want to save search.
> This is completely against the ethos of the internet. The internet was always about new ways to find and organize information
I disagree this being applicable to Search. Granted, SEO spam is ranking higher, but a lot of the "internet" today is littered with low quality content. It's important to rank higher quality content.
The second problem is misinformation. It's hard to differentiate information from misinformation. Sometimes misinformation can become information with new data.
The question is, how can an algorithm determine which content is higher quality and not misinformation. "Authority" can be one proxy signal for it.
I feel in this stage of the internet, we don't need an index over everything, but just curated content. This is hard to do for Google or Microsoft, because they'd get sued hard. Look at Section 230 case in the supreme court [1].
I don’t believe search engines should decide what is or what is not misinformation. Search engines should focus purely on indexing and discovering information, not arbitrating the truth. Just show me information and let me decide whether that’s true or not.
There was a major search update a few years ago that emphasized "authority". If your website was considered more reputable or an established brand, you ranked higher.
This is completely against the ethos of the internet. The internet was always about new ways to find and organize information. On the internet, CNN has no greater reputation than some random blog. Yet, if you were a mainstream brand, Google would deem you to be more authoritative than some internet-only website.
You can see this most clearly in medical queries. WebM and MayoClinic top the results, even though they're filled with generic fluff. Internet-only websites and forums dedicated to a specific illness rarely get on the front page, even though they have superior information.