The Google Algorithm Revealed

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How many years did you register your domain name for?

If it’s only one then that’s a point against you in Googles eyes.

Why?

Because the majority of Spam websites only register a domain
name for one year. A domain registered for a longer period
implies that the owner is more likely to be legitimate and
serious about their web site.

This is just one of the unusual factors now considered by Google
when indexing and ranking a website. Factors you could never
even have guessed at in some cases.

How do I know this?

Google have recently filed United States Patent Application
20050071741 on March 31, 2005.

In which many of the search giants secret ranking criteria is
revealed and it makes very interesting reading. You have got to
read this if you’re serious about ranking well in Google. The
days of Spaming Google are drawing to a close. With this patent
they reveal just how hard they’re coming down on Spam sites. You
Do Not want to get caught out.

Below you will find the hard facts, I recommend you bookmark
this page now. You will need to reference it each time you
optimize a new site.

• First of all Links. It’s common knowledge that Google relies
heavily on inbound relevant links to rank a site. Now they
explain exactly how it works.

This is a major factor so I’ll take a few paragraphs to explain
what is going on.

As well as the number, quality and anchor text factors of a
link. Google seems to also consider historical factors. Googles
’sandbox’ or aging delay begins countdown the minute links to a
new site are discovered.

Google record the discovery of a link and link changes over
time. The speed at which a site gains links and the link life
span.

With this in mind fast link acquisition may be a strong
indicator of potential search engine Spam.

Gone are the days of pages and pages full of link farms. You
must grow your links slowly to stay below the radar and be
careful who you exchange links with. That means no more buying
hundreds of links at once or other underhand tactics.

PR is now very valuable.

Your link anchor text should vary but remain consistent with
your site content. No more using your main keywords on every
link exchange you gain. That’s ‘anchor Spam’. Instead vary them
around your top five to ten keywords.

Link exchanges are still very important but you must work and
utilize them ethically. If you don’t and you get caught the
recovery from a ban can be months in coming and your host and IP
may also be recorded.

Softly softly seems to be the message. The fact is fewer but
better quality links will benefit you more anyway and likely to
be more long-term which is good to.

• Site click through rates (CTR) may now be monitored through
cache, temporary files, bookmarks and favorites. Via the Google
toolbar or desktop tools. Many have suspected for some time that
sites are reward for good CTR with a raise in ranking. Similar
to how Adwords works.

CTR is monitored to see if fresh or stale content is preferred
for a search result.

CTR is monitored for increases or decreases relating to trends
or seasons.

• Web page rankings are recorded and monitored for changes.

• The traffic to a web page is recorded and monitored over time.

• Sites can be ranked seasonally. A ski site may rank higher in
the winter than in the summer. Google can monitor and rank pages
by recording CTR changes by season.

• Bookmarks and favorites could be monitored for changes,
deletions or additions.

• User behavior in general could be monitored.

As Google is capable of tracking traffic to your site you should
closely monitor the small amount of copy returned in search
results. Ideally you want to integrate a call to action in there
to increase CTR.

Clicks away from your site back to the search results are also
monitored. Make your site as sticky as possible to keep visitors
there longer. As mentioned above it may also help if you could
get your visitors to bookmark you.

• The frequency and amount of page updates is monitored and
recorded as is the number of pages.

Mass updates of hundreds of files will see you pop up on the
radar.

On the other hand to few or to small updates to your site could
see your rankings slide. Unless your CTR is good. A stale page
that receives good traffic may hold it’s own and not require an
update. So don’t update for the sake of it.

Depending on your market fresh content may not be a requirement.
If the information your pages contain does not go out of date
then updating may not be necessary. If your market is more news
based for example then changes regularly are a must. In general
changes don’t necessarily have to mean fresh content. They could
involve simple edits to current content.

A further indicator that Google is really cracking down on Spam
is made clear in the following extract from the Patent. Mention
is made of changing the focus of multiple pages at once.

Here’s the quote – “A significant change over time in the set of
topics associated with a document may indicate that the document
has changed owners and previous document indicators, such as
score, anchor text, 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 set
of one or more topics over what may be considered a ’stable’
period of time and then a (sudden) spike occurs in the number of
topics associated with the document, this may be an indication
that the document has been taken over as a ‘doorway’ document.

Another indication may include the sudden disappearance of the
original topics associated with the document. If one or more of
these situations are detected, then [Google] may reduce the
relative score of such documents and/or the links, anchor text,
or other data associated the document.”

There’s still more to look out for:-

• Changes in on page keyword density is monitored and recorded
as are changes to anchor text.

• The domain name owner address is considered, most likely to
help in a local search result.

• The technical and admin contact details are checked for
consistency. These are often falsified for Spam domains.

• Your hosts IP address. If you are on a shared server it’s
possible somebody else on that server is using dirty tactics or
Spaming. If so your site will suffer since you share the same IP.

The impression I get here is that Google have learned from the
Spam attack they suffered in early 2004 and are determined to
eradicate it.

So what do you do?

There’s a lot to take onboard here and consider. But you can’t
go far wrong with your SEO if you try to grow your site as
organically as possible. If you know what you’re doing you can
take short cuts. Carry on with link exchanges but consider each
site carefully and slow down in your gathering of them. Vary
your anchor text. Add small amounts of good quality content to
your site regularly. Check your search engine listings and edit
your site to include a call to action in them if possible. Make
your site more ’sticky’ to encourage visitors to stay a while.
Encourage visitors to Bookmark your site. Oh and register new
domain names for at least two years.

Before you do anything remember to reference the above info
first. It may just save you months of misery as your site gets
banned and ‘Sand boxed’.

Overall keep it ethical and you can’t go wrong. Do not be
tempted to Spam. Stick to the guidelines above and you are much
more likely to outlast and out rank your competition

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