Also true, however I think a basic ranking algorithm should still be fine for most cases if you have 100% spam eradication. Good content left over should bubble

Also true, however I think a basic ranking algorithm should still be fine for most cases if you have 100% spam eradication. Good content left over should bubble to the top. I tried building a small search engine with a very basic algorithm and it worked very well for 90% of searches. I agree with you in part but I also believe if you got the others 100% right you would have a respectable engine by itself.