Remember when Danny Sullivan of Google showed how he documented an issue in Google search to share internally for review by Google engineers? Well, he was then asked for an ETA on the fix. In which he said "There's not going to be an immediate change." These changes take time and need to be tested he added.
He posted on Twitter "There's not going to be an immediate change. If you see a shift, it's probably that the algorithm is shifting between the two naturally. The feedback collected will be used to see if we can improve longer term across a broad set like this." "Whatever system making these types of selections needs to be improved. That doesn't happen overnight. There's no simple switch that just gets flipped. Some engineers will have to explore why this seems to be happening. Then they explore how to improve that. That's not a change that will likely happen in just a few days. I don't have an expected time frame. But that it will take some time doesn't mean it's going to be ignored. It's just that it needs to be properly explored and tested. If you rush into making change, you can produce other unexpected issues. So it's explore, test and launch. I just don't want people to see natural fluctuations and assume somehow something was one-off fixed. The goal is to get a broad fix."
Here are those tweets:
I hope you understand that it's insanely frustrating to get this kind of response, and one you yourself used to criticize while at SEL.
— Dan Leibson (@DanLeibson) February 24, 2020
Then they explore how to improve that. That's not a change that will likely happen in just a few days. I don't have an expected time frame. But that it will take some time doesn't mean it's going to be ignored. It's just that it needs to be properly explored and tested....
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) February 24, 2020
If you rush into making change, you can produce other unexpected issues. So it's explore, test and launch. I just don't want people to see natural fluctuations and assume somehow something was one-off fixed. The goal is to get a broad fix.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) February 24, 2020
I just hope it doesn't take as long as that other site that has been working on it for several years.
But if you think of it, Google search is massive. It is complex. Making a small change isn't that simple. So yes, it makes sense it takes time. Any developer who reads this gets that.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
