Confusion - The Google Surfer

There is a lot of discussion going on about individual
searches and different opinions about page rank and
different searches being found by one person versus
another.

Actually the whole subject is about the patent applied for by
Google in 2004 which was recently approved.

The gist is Google's "Reasonable Surfer" algorithm.
In effect;
"How the Value of a Link May Differ Based upon Link
and Document Features and User Data."

In other words, would a REASONABLE surfer see a backlink
that I or you place or have placed by someone else
on a site owned by someone else.

In a nutshell, if I or you go to a site ....
will I or you reasonably SEE the link ???
If NO , then Google devalues the link ...
and if YES Google leaves it the same or upgrades it.

So that's all it is. Some or a lot of backlinks are going to be ignored.
Some will stay the same or improve.

Sidenote: The "User Data" part is whether the users
(visitors to a site) in a group, mass group or as individuals
are visiting a site and NEVER or SELDOM GOING to the page
that the link is embedded on.

So the "user data" used is for Google to evaluate that link
and that page and in future Google will use that evaluation
for their use and database redundancy.

I don't blame Google for that. For example, what If I say
I will advertise for you and place all your ads in a desert.
Would I get paid or get credit from you?
Why should Google give credit?

Sure, certain links are being ignored, rankings will drop and
fluctuate and the "Google Dance" WILL GIVE different
variations to different users and/or the same user.
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So that's what the "Reasonable Surfer" patent
and approval is mostly all about.
There is more but too much for this post.
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For myself, I have really seen no changes
to realy worry about.
It Just means that the Backlink "Spam Farms"
are out of business.

Hope this helps out a small bit.
Carey