New Article - What If Your Reputation Determined Your Rankings?

[thejenn]

Authored by: Jennifer Laycock

Full Text: http://www.searchengineguide.com/laycock/009447.html

A Snippet:

I've been reading a bit about the new concept of Google's "Agent Rank" and their patent application while pondering how it might impact search. The basic idea here is that Google may be working on a way to tie content on the web to an individual and that Google might also establish a way to judge the reputation of the individual, and by extension, their content.

[vangogh]

Interesting Jenn. I'm intrigued too though I also have my doubts. I haven't gone through the articles you linked to yet so anything I say here is my initial impression.

It would seem like evaluatiing us on reputation would be a good thing. I'm afraid it might be a little utopian though. Reputation can be a subjective thing and I'm not really sure how a search engine could really measure it.

I can also see the new manipulation techniques where you simply go out and talk bad about your competition to ruin their reputation. I can see online communities devolving into flame wars though I suppose that could hurt reputations all around.

I can also see people becoming more anonymous online as they have one persona set up with a good rep and several others designed to either hurt the rep of someone else or simply be there to hide behind.

I'm still intrigued though and I'll read through some of the other articles you linked to. I can see something like this working as an addition to what's going on now, maybe a ranking boost or a ranking decrease based on reputation. I'm not sure it would work as the main basis for ranking though.