Google's
Next Big Move by David Leonhardt
Google's
Next Big Move (Will your website be ready, or
will you be playing catch-up six months too late?)
November 2003 might go down in history as the
month that Google shook a lot of smug webmasters
and search engine optimization (SEO) specialists
from the apple tree. But more than likely, it
was just a precursor of the BIG shakeup to come.
Google touts highly its secret PageRank algorithm.
Although PageRank is just one factor in choosing
what sites appear on a specific search, it is
the main way that Google determines the "importance"
of a website.
In recent months, SEO specialists have become
expert at manipulating PageRank, particularly
through link exchanges.
There is nothing wrong with links. They make the
Web a web rather than a series of isolated islands.
However, PageRank relies on the naturally "democratic"
nature of the web, whereby webmasters link to
sites they feel are important for their visitors.
Google rightly sees link exchanges designed to
boost PageRank as stuffing the ballot box.
I was not surprised to see Google try to counter
all the SEO efforts. In fact, I have been arguing
the case with many non- believing SEO specialists
over the past couple months. But I was surprised
to see the clumsy way in which Google chose to
do it.
Google targeted specific search terms, including
many of the most competitive and commercial terms.
Many websites lost top positions in five or six
terms, but maintain their positions in several
others. This had never happened before. Give credit
to Barry Lloyd of www.SearchEngineGuide.com for
cleverly uncovering the process.
For Google, this shakeup is just a temporary fix.
It will have to make much bigger changes if it
is serious about harnessing the "democratic" nature
of the Web and neutralizing the artificial results
of so many link exchanges.
Here are a few techniques Google might use (remember
to think like a search engine):
1. Google might start valuing inbound links within
paragraphs much higher than links that stand on
their own. (For all we know, Google is already
doing this.) Such links are much less likely to
be the product of a link exchange, and therefore
more likely to be genuine "democratic" votes.
2. Google might look at the concentration of inbound
links across a website. If most inbound links
point to the home page, that is another possible
indicator of a link exchange, or at least that
the site's content is not important enough to
draw inbound links (and it is content that Google
wants to deliver to its searchers).
3. Google might take a sample of inbound links
to a domain, and check to see how many are reciprocated
back to the linking domains. If a high percentage
are reciprocated, Google might reduce the site's
PageRank accordingly. Or it might set a cut- point,
dropping from its index any website with too many
of its inbound links reciprocated.
4. Google might start valuing outbound links more
highly. Two pages with 100 inbound links are,
in theory, valued equally, even if one has 20
outbound links and the other has none. But why
should Google send its searchers down a dead-end
street, when the information highway is paved
just as smoothly on a major thoroughfare?
5. Google might weigh a website's outbound link
concentration. A website with most outbound links
concentrated on just a few pages is more likely
to be a "link-exchanger" than a site with links
spread out across its pages.
Google might use a combination of these techniques
and ones not mentioned here. We cannot predict
the exact algorithm, nor can we assume that it
will remain constant. What we can do is to prepare
our websites to look and act like a website would
on a "democratic" Web as Google would see it.
For Google to hold its own against upstart search
engines, it must deliver on its PageRank promise.
Its results reflect the "democratic" nature of
the Web. Its algorithm must prod webmasters to
give links on their own merit. That won't be easy
or even completely possible. And people will always
find ways to turn Google's algorithm to their
advantage. But the techniques above can send the
Internet a long way back to where Google promises
it will be.
The time is now to start preparing your website
for the changes to come.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (plain text)
David Leonhardt is an online and offline publicity
specialist who believes in getting in front of
the ball, rather than chasing it downhill. To
get your website optimized, email him at info@thehappyguy.com
. For a copy of Don't Get Banned By The Search
Engines: http://thehappyguy.com/SEO.html
. For a copy of Get In The News: http://thehappyguy.com/publicity-self-promotion-
report.html
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