Google makes mistakes and I'm sure they do plenty within their algorithms that aren't mistakes but intentional. It's been discussed on forums for affiliate niche site owners that Google punishes eBay affiliates (ePN) and Amazon Associates by reducing rankings and page authority. Of course we can't prove it but Google certainly picks, chooses and judges what they feel is quality content.
I do agree
link building is now becoming less important and some discussions at
SEO Moz basically confirms that. Matt Cutt from Google does claim that posting to G+ will provide some link juice but said Authorship, as mentioned in the article, is not yet producing ranking authority. However, I do see results and a direct correlation from posting a page on G+ then finding it almost immediately with my picture when I Google my name.
Is Google correct 100% of the time? Hardly even close. Do they run the search engine show and carry the most weight? Yes. Are we at their mercy? Most likely.
