Last month, Google was granted a patent that states that the different links on a linking page have a different effect on the linked pages. How does this affect your website and what do you have to do to secure your rankings?
What is the patent about?
The patent describes that the value of a link seems to be based on the probability that a web surfer would click on the link. Here's the summary from the patent application:How does Google classify the links?
"Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention may provide a reasonable surfer model that indicates that when a surfer accesses a document with a set of links, the surfer will follow some of the links with higher probability than others. This reasonable surfer model reflects the fact that not all of the links associated with a document are equally likely to be followed. [...]
Examples of unlikely followed links may include 'Terms of Service' links, banner advertisements, and links unrelated to the document."
When Google finds links on a web page, it classifies the links. Some links on the indexed page have more value than others.
To determine the value of a link, Google analyzes several things:Where does Google get the user behavior data from?
Features of the link: color and size of the anchor text, link position, number of words, how commercial the text is, length of the linked URL, link type (image or text), context of words Features of the linking page: URL of the page, number of links on the page, presence of other words on the page, match between the topic of the link text and the other words on the page Features of the linked page: URL of the page, associated websites, words in the URL, length of the URL User behavior data: language and interests of the user, used search query terms, frequency of link selection, navigational actions (forms completed, links selected, etc.)
To get the user behavior data, Google can use the Google toolbar. According to the patent description:How can you improve the links that point to your website?
"[Google's toolbar] may record data concerning the documents accessed by the user and the links within the documents (if any) the user selected.
[...] may record data concerning the language of the user, which may be determined in a number of ways that are known in the art, such as by analyzing documents accessed by the user.
[...] may record data concerning interests of the user, which may be determined, for example, from the favorites or bookmark list of the user, topics associated with documents accessed by the user, or in other ways that are known in the art.
[...] may record data concerning query terms entered by the user. The web browser or browser assistant may send this data for storage in repository 430."
There's quite a lot of things that Google records when you surf the web with the Google's toolbar installed.
Of course, you cannot influence all links that point to your website. If you can, you should consider the following things:The Google patent confirms that not all links are created equal. Although the patent has been granted to Google last month, they filed it several years ago. That means that the methods described in the patent might have been used by Google for years.
Your link should be in the regular text of the linking page. It should not be in the footer or another navigational elements. If possible, the link should be "above the fold". The anchor text should contain words that are related to your website. Use the keywords for which you want to get high rankings. The link texts should be natural. Anything that looks like manipulation might devalue the link. Avoid commercial words in your links. Terms like "buy now" and similar commercial phrases might devalue the link. The link should be on a related page. If you sell shoes then a link from a web page that deals with shoes will have a higher impact on your search engine rankings than a link from an unrelated website that links to all kind of web pages.
If you want to know which ranking algorithm Google uses today and if your website is compliant to Google's latest ranking algorithm, analyze your page with IBP's Top 10 Optimizer. The Top 10 Optimizer will tell you in plain English if the links to your website are okay and it will also tell you what exactly you have to change.
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2. Search engine news and articles of the week
More search engine statistics
"Google accounted for 72.17 percent of all U.S. searches conducted in the four weeks ending May 29, 2010. Yahoo! Search, Bing and Ask received 14.43 percent, 9.23 percent and 2.14 percent, respectively. [...]
Search engines continue to be the primary way Internet users navigate to key industry categories. Comparing April 2010 with May 2010, Automotive, Business and Finance, Entertainment, News and Media, Shopping and Social Networking categories showed double-digit increases in their share of traffic coming directly from search engines."
Editor's note: these numbers confirm that it is very important that your website can be found on search engines for the right keywords.
"Google's new Caffeine web index heralds a new age of possibilities for the search engine. [...] The fortunes of whole companies and countless careers live and die by their rankings in search results. [...]Google's John Mueller says the noscript tag can cause problems
'With Buzz, our mathematical models were awfully good, but they didn't know the nuance of human relationships,' says Singhal. 'That was a privacy mistake, which we accept. Mea culpa.'"
Yesterday, Google's John Mueller told a webmaster in an online discussion that the noscript tag can look suspicious to Google:Google's John Mueller says that you shouldn't hide links
"One of the problems with noscript is - as others have mentioned - that it's been abused quite a bit by spammers, so search engines might treat it with some suspicion.
So if this is really important content, then I wouldn't rely on all search engines treating your noscript elements in the same way as normal, visible, static content on your pages. If this is 'just' for comments, then that might be worth considering regardless, especially if the alternatives are much more complicated."
In another discussion, Google's John Mueller writes about hiding links from Google in JavaScript:Google's Street View Wi-Fi data included passwords, email
"You're hiding links from Googlebot. Personally, I wouldn't recommend doing that as it makes it harder to properly understand the relevance of your website. I also doubt that you'd see any kind of visible change with regards to PageRank.
Ultimately, that's your choice, just as it would be our choice to review those practices as potential attempts to hide content & links."
"Google did indeed record email access passwords [and] extracts of the content of email messages [...] Google also told CNIL that the data collected by the Street View cars is also used by other services, including Google Maps and Google Latitude, which allows users automatically transmit their location to friends, and to track others who choose to share their location via the service."
Related: Connecticut to lead multistate probe of Google
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