Google Changes Search Algorithm, Trying to Make Results More Timely

Many Google search results will be more timely after Google made a significant change to its search algorithm, a change that will affect about 35 percent of searches.

The change was made because people increasingly expect real-time information on the Web from Twitter and other Web sites, and some Google results seemed dated. For instance, search for the Oscars to find out when the awards ceremony will be broadcast this year, and you might find results about previous awards shows instead. The change, which Google calls a freshness algorithm, gives real-time results for relevant searches, using Google’s Caffeine Web indexing system, which crawls the Web more quickly. Google makes more than 500 changes to its algorithm a year, but most affect only a small percentage of results. Its last change of significant size was in February, when it weeded out low-quality sites like content farms, affecting 12 percent of searches. The new algorithm will bring up minutes-old results for recent events, like an unfolding news story, and for recurring events like the Oscars or the presidential election. It will also show fresher results for topics that are often updated, like reviews of the new iPhone.