Last week, Google updated its site ranking algorithm; the change? Sites, which once forced our tired fingers to reach out for the scroll wheel on our mice in order to navigate down past excessive top-of-the-page ads, are to be penalised for causing user annoyance.
Google engineer, Matt Cutts, was quick to point out that this change will not affect sites that utilise top page ads to a "normal degree" and that Google understands the importance and effectiveness of the proper use of such advertisements. The impact of the change is expected to affect just less than one in every 100 searches, where a user can expect to observe a reordering of results.
If you're unsure if your site may fall under the criteria of the new algorithm, you can always use Google's Browser Size tool to see how your pages appear at varying resolutions, however, Google's advise remains to focus not on specific tweaks, but towards a site that offers a good, all-round, user experience, as the firm intends to introduce over 500 improvements to its search system throughout 2012.
