ISEDB: PageRank is Sick… Is Google Broken?

Jim Hedger, a search engine optimizer (SEO) and industry writer, feels that Google's PageRank algorithm is losing its edge, as spammers and pushy SEOs manipulate results. The article mentions Kaltix and some other relevancy boosting technology. However, all this discussion of technology and search listing spam brings to mind an interesting question. Since SEO spammers have no incentive to maintain editorial quality, perhaps a broader introduction of paid inclusion is a solution. Once a marketer starts paying on a cost per click basis, an incentive to maintain relevancy becomes paramount, lest the clickers who show up on a marketer's site turn out to be useless. Marketers don't want to pay for poorly targeted clicks, an influence that brings a great editorial clarity to the paid search listings. Perhaps that same incentive for clarity could somehow be introduced to listings in general.