Cracking The Google Code… Under The GoogleScope
May 26th, 2009 | 
Author: Cracking The Google Code… Under The GoogleScope
Google’s sweeping changes confirm the search giant has launcheda full out assault against artificial link inflation declaredwar against search engine spam in a continuing effort to providethe best search service in the world… and if you thought youcracked the Google Code and had Google all figured out … guessagain.
Google has raised the bar against search engine spam andartificial link inflation to unrivaled heights with the filingof a United States Patent Application 20050071741 on December31 2003. On March 31 2005 is was available online for thefirst time.
The filing unquestionable provides SEO’s with valuable insightinto Google’s tightly guarded search intelligence and confirmsthat Google’s information retrieval is based on historical data.
What exactly do these changes mean to you? Your credibility andreputation online are going under the Googlescope! Google hasdefined their patent abstract as follows:
A system identifies a document and obtains one or more types ofhistory data associated with the document. The system maygenerate a score for the document based at least in part onthe one or more types of history data.
Google’s patent specification reveals a significant amount ofinformation both old and new about the possible ways Google canand likely does use your web page updates to determine theranking of your site in the SERPs.
Unfortunately the patent filing does not prioritize orconclusively confirm any specific method one way or the other.
Here’s how Google scores your web pages.
In addition to evaluating and scoring web page content theranking of web pages are admittedly still influenced by thefrequency of page or site updates. What’s new and interesting iswhat Google takes into account in determining the freshness of aweb page.
For example if a stale page continues to procure incominglinks it will still be considered fresh even if the pageheader LastModified: tells when the file was most recentlymodified hasn’t changed and the content is not updated orstale’.
According to their patent filing Google records and scores thefollowing web page changes to determine freshness.
middot;The frequency of all web page changes middot;The actual amount of thechange itself… whether it is a substantial change redundant orsuperfluous middot;Changes in keyword distribution or density middot;Theactual number of new web pages that link to a web page middot;Thechange or update of anchor text the text that is used to linkto a web page middot;The numbers of new links to low trust web sitesfor example a domain may be considered low trust for havingtoo many affiliate links on one web page.
Although there is no specific number of links indicated in thepatent it might be advisable to limit affiliate links on new webpages. Caution should also be used in linking to pages withmultiple affiliate links.
Developing your web page augments for page freshness.
Now I’m not suggesting that it’s always beneficial or advisableto change the content of your web pages regularly but it isvery important to keep your pages fresh regularly and that maynot necessarily mean a content change.
Google states that decayed or stale results might be desirablefor information that doesn’t necessarily need updating whilefresh content is good for results that require it.
How do you unravel that statement and differentiate between thetwo types of content?
An excellent example of this methodology is the roller coasterride seasonal results might experience in Google’s SERPs basedon the actual season of the year.
A page related to winter clothing may rank higher in the winterthan the summer… and the geographical area the end user issearching from will now likely be considered and factored intothe search results.
Likewise specific vacation destinations might rank higher inthe SERPs in certain geographic regions during specific seasonsof the year. Google can monitor and score pages by recordingclick through rate changes by season.
Google is no stranger to fighting Spam and is taking serious newmeasures to crack down on offenders like never before.
Section 0128 of Googles patent filing claims that you shouldn’tchange the focus of multiple pages at once.
Here’s a quote from their rationale:
“A significant change over time in the set of topics associatedwith a document may indicate that the document has changedowners and previous document indicators such as score anchortext etc. are no longer reliable.
Similarly a spike in the number of topics could indicate spam.For example if a particular document is associated with a setof one or more topics over what may be considered a ‘stable’period of time and then a sudden spike occurs in the number oftopics associated with the document this may be an indicationthat the document has been taken over as a ‘doorway’ document.
Another indication may include the sudden disappearance of theoriginal topics associated with the document. If one or more ofthese situations are detected then Google may reduce therelative score of such documents and/or the links anchor textor other data associated the document.
Unfortunately this means that Google’s sandbox phenomenonand/or the aging delay may apply to your web site if you changetoo many of your web pages at once.
From the case studies I’ve conducted it’s more likely the ruleand not the exception.
What does all this mean to you?
Keep your pages themed relevant and most importantlyconsistent. You have to establish reliability! The days ofspamming Google are drawing to an end.
If you require multi page content changes implement the changesin segments over time. Continue to use your original keywords oneach page you change to maintain theme consistency.
You can easily make significant content changes by implementinglateral keywords to support and reinforce your verticalkeywords and phrases. This will also help eliminate keywordstuffing.
Make sure you determine if the keywords you’re using requirestatic or fresh search results and update your web site contentaccordingly. On this point RSS feeds may play a more valuableand strategic role than ever before in keeping pages fresh andat the top of the SERPs.
The bottom line here is webmasters must look ahead plan andmange their domains more tightly than ever before or riskplummeting in the SERPs.
Does Google use your domain name to determine the ranking ofyour site?
Google’s patent references specific types of informationrelating to how a document is hosted within a computer network’that can directly influence the ranking of a specific web site.This is Google’s way of determining the legitimacy of yourdomain name.
Therefore the credibility of your host has never been moreimportant to ranking well in Google’s SERP’s.
Google states they may check the information of a name server inmultiple ways.
Bad name servers might host known spam sites adult and/ordoorway domains. If you’re hosted on a known bad name serveryour rankings will undoubtedly suffer… if you’re not blacklistedentirely.
What I found particularly interesting is the criteria thatGoogle may consider in determining the value of a domain oridentifying it as a spam domain; According to their patentGoogle may now record the following information:
middot;The length of the domain registration… is it greater than oneyear or less than one year?
middot;The address of the web site owner. Possibly for returninghigher relevancy local search results and attachingaccountability to the domain. middot;The admin and the technicalcontact info. This info is often changed several times orcompletely falsified on spam domains; again this check is forconsistency! middot;The stability of your host and their IP range… isyour IP range associated with spam?
Google’s rationale for domain registration is based on thepremise that valuable domains are often secured many years inadvance while domains used for spam are rarely secured for morethan a year.
If in doubt about a host’s integrity I recommend checking theirmail server at www.dnsstuff.com to see if they’re in the spamdatabase. Watch for red flags!
If your mail server is listed you may have a problem rankingwell in Google!
Securing a reputable host can and will go a long way inpromoting your web site to Google.
The simplest strategy may be registering your domain severalyears in advance with a reputable provider thereby demonstratinglongevity and accountability to Google. Google wants to see thatyou’re serious about your site and not a flash in the pan spamshop.
http://www.tkqlhce.com/click160430210294265
Googles Aging Delay has teeth… and they’re taking a bite out ofspam!
It’s no big secret that Google relies heavily on links when itcomes to ranking web sites.
According to their patent filing Google may record thediscovery date of a link and link changes over time.
In addition to volume quality the anchor text of linksGoogle’s patent illustrates possible ways how Google might usehistorical information to further determine the value of links.
For example the life span of a link and the speed at which anew web site gets links.
“Burst link growth may be a strong indicator of search enginespam”.
This is the first concrete evidence that Google may penalizesites for rapid link acquisition. Whether the “burst growth”rule applies to high trust/authorative sites and directorylistings remains unknown. I personally haven’t experienced thisphenomenon. What’s clear for certain though is the inevitableend to results orientated link farming.
I would point out here that regardless of whether burst linkgrowth will be tolerated for authorative sites or authorativelink acquisition webmasters will have to get smarter and workharder to secure authorative links as their counterparts becomereluctant to exchange links with low trust sites. Now Page Rankreally has value!
Relevant content swaps may be a nice alternative to the standardlink exchange and allow you some control of the link pageelements.
So what else does Google consider in determining the aging delay?
middot;The anchor text and the discovery date of links are recordedthus establishing the countdown period of the aging delay.middot;Links with a longterm life span may be more valuable thanlinks with a short life span. middot;The appearance and disappearanceof a links over time. middot;Growth rates of links as well as the linkgrowth of independent peer pages. Again this suggests thatrapid link acquisition and the quality of peer pages aremonitored middot;Anchor text over a given period of time for keywordconsistency. middot;Inbound links from fresh pages… might beconsidered more important than links from stale pages. middot;Googledoesn’t expect that new web sites have a large number of linksso purchasing large numbers of brokered links will likely hurtyou more than help you. Google indicates that it is better forlink growth to remain constant and naturally paced. In additionthe anchor text should be varied as much as possible. middot;New websites should not acquire too many new links; it’ll be toleratedif the links are from trusted sites but it may be consideredspam.
So how do you build your link popularity / Page Rank and avoidpenalties?
When it comes to linking you should clearly avoid the hocuspocus or magic bullet linking schemes. If you participate inquick fix link exchange scams use automated link exchangesoftware or buy hundreds of links at once chances are Googlewill interpret your efforts as a spam attempt and actaccordingly.
Don’t get caught in this trap… the recovery period could besubstantial since your host and IP range are also considered!
When you exchange links with other web sites do it slowly andconsistently.
Develop a link management and maintenance program. Scheduleregular times every week to build the links to your site andvary the anchor text that points to your site.
Obviously the links to your site should utilize your keywords.To avoid repetition use lateral keywords and keyword phrases inthe anchor text since Google wants to see varied anchor text!
Your sites click through rate may now monitored throughbookmarks cache favorites and temporary files.
It’s no big secret that Google has always been suspected ofrewarding sites with higher click through rates very similar towhat Google does with their AdWords program so it shouldn’tcome as a great surprise that Google still considers sitestickiness and CTR tracking in their criterion.
What’s interesting though is Google is interested in trackingthe behavior of web surfers through bookmarks cache favoritesand temporary files most likely with the Google toolbar and/orthe Google desktop search tool. Google’s Patent filingindicates Google might track the following information: middot;Clickthrough rates are monitored for changes in seasonality fastincreases or other spike traffic in addition to increase ordecrease trends. middot;The volume of searches over time is recordedand monitored for increases. middot;The information regarding a webpage’s rankings are recorded and monitored for changes. middot;Clickthrough rates are monitored to find out if stale or fresh webpages are preferred for a search query. middot;The traffic to a webpage is recorded and monitored for changes… like Alexa. middot;Userbehavior may be monitored through bookmarks cache favoritesand temporary files. middot;Bookmarks and favorites could be monitoredfor both additions and deletions and; middot;The overall userbehavior for trends and changes.
Since Google is capable of tracking the clickthrough rates toyour web site you should make sure that your web pages haveattractive titles and utilize calls to action so that websurfers click on them in the search results.
It’s also important to keep your visitors there so make your webpages interesting enough so that web surfers stay some time onyour web site. It might also help if your web site visitorsadded your web site to their bookmarks.
As you can see Google’s new ranking criterion has evolved farbeyond the reliance of criteria that can be readily or easilymanipulated. One thing is for certain with Google whateverdirection search innovation is going; you can trust Google to bepioneering the way and setting new standards
Daniel Katz Business Development Manager at Compucall Web Marketing Ltd. experts in International Search Engine Optimization.
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