Google Patent Specification and Tracking Surfer Behavior
Google has recently filed a patent that details many points that Google uses to rank web pages. The title of the patent is Information retrieval based on historical data and it reveals details of algorithms that Google uses in addition to its main ranking algorithms.
Webfoot Creative published a six part series on these new Google Patent Specification and what it means to the ranking of your website. In this article series, we share our interpretation of what this means to your web site and what you have to do to optimize your web pages so as to achieve high rankings on Google.
Google and Tracking Surfing Behavior
If you've read Click Through Rates and Your Google Ranking, then you know that Google tracks user behavior to determine the ranking of web sites. Google has recently released a web accelerator program that is intended to make surfing faster for broadband users. Google might use this program to track the surfing behavior of people who have the web accelerator installed.
This means that Google now has at least four different tools that allow Google to track which websites you visit:
- Google toolbar
- Google Desktop
- Gmail
- Google web accelerator
These tools could help Google to collect the user information that is mentioned in the patent specification, and as soon as you login to any Google service (Gmail, AdWords, etc.) this information could be assigned to your name and address.
Other Factors that may Influence Your Google Rankings
In addition to user behavior, link popularity and domain names, the most recent Google patent specification lists some other factors that might influence how Google selects results.
The document specification indicates that web pages with frequent ranking changes might be considered untrustworthy. In addition, keywords that have little change in the result pages are probably matched to domains with stable rankings. Keywords with many changes in the results are probably matched to domains with more votality.
In general, it is important that your web page content is optimized for Google. The ranking factors mentioned in the patent specification are only additional factors. If your web page content is not optimized, all other ranking factors won't help you much.
Remember that this patent doesn't mean that Google really uses all of this. The patent only lists options that might be used by Google. The most important factors for high rankings on Google are good incoming links and optimized web page content. You should make sure that your web site has both if you want high rankings on Google.
Google Patent Specifications and Your Website Rankings
Reciprocal Linking and Search Engine Spam - With the current reciprocal linking frenzy completely out of control and search engine spam being served up at a new level, it’s no wonder Google has introduced sweeping changes in an all out assault against artificial link inflation and search engine spam.
Fighting Spam and Artificial Link Building - Learn about how n addition to web page content, the ranking of web pages is influenced by the frequency of page or site updates.
Search Engine Spam and the Google Sandbox Effect - Their is no question that with these most recent changes in the way Google determines your position in the serps, webmasters must look ahead, plan and manage their domains more tightly than ever before.
Google Rankings and Your Link Building Strategy - Develop a link management and maintenance program. Schedule regular times every week to build the links to your site and vary the anchor text in those links.
Domain Names and their Influence on Google Rankings - If your web site is hosted by a company that mainly hosts the websites of spammers, it might be difficult to get good rankings for your site.
Click Through Rates and Your Google Ranking - It seems that Google might be tracking click-throughs and rewarding those sites with higher click through rates, similar to what they do with their AdWords program.
Google's new ranking criterion has evolved far beyond that which can be readily or easily manipulated. Whatever direction search innovation and technology goes, you can bet that Google will be leading the way!
This Webfoot Creative exclusive six part series discussing our interpretation of the Google patent specification and what it means to website ranking, has also been published to the Search Engine Optimization Blog for your convenience.
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