A Look Inside Google's Algorithms

[peter_d]

Interesting article about Google's algo team.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/bu...google.html?hp

Confirmed a suspicion of mine:

Freshness, which describes how many recently created or changed pages are included in a search result, is at the center of a constant debate in search: Is it better to provide new information or to display pages that have stood the test of time and are more likely to be of higher quality? Until now, Google has preferred pages old enough to attract others to link to them....Mr. Singhal introduced the freshness problem, explaining that simply changing formulas to display more new pages results in lower-quality searches much of the time. He then unveiled his team’s solution: a mathematical model that tries to determine when users want new information and when they don’t. (And yes, like all Google initiatives, it had a name: QDF, for “query deserves freshness.”)....THE QDF solution revolves around determining whether a topic is “hot.” If news sites or blog posts are actively writing about a topic, the model figures that it is one for which users are more likely to want current information. The model also examines Google’s own stream of billions of search queries, which Mr. Singhal believes is an even better monitor of global enthusiasm about a particular subject.

In short, in order to qualify for the freshness algo, there must be a current vibe about your topic. There must be sufficient search queries, news and blog topics. For example, "bomb plot JFK"

Obviously, that query has weighed news sites heavily.

[Costin Trifan]

very interesting.

thanks, Peter.

[sheena]

It is a nice article and thanks for the information.

[temyong]

Thank you for the info Peter its really nice to know that.

[John Scott]

Good find.

[Jesse Vlasveld]

Thats quite interesting. It's nice to know a little trustable information about their algorythm.

Thanks Peter!

[lucia]

I had to chuckle when I read that Google's "freshness" issue prevented people entering "google finance" from finding "Google Finance"!

[Webfu]

Hmmm nice work Pete. I liked the bit about signals and classifiers. Thought this was noteworthy since it's really effected the SERPS the last few weeks. At least for me...

The sites with the 10 highest scores win the coveted spots on the first search page, unless a final check shows that there is not enough “diversity” in the results. “If you have a lot of different perspectives on one page, often that is more helpful than if the page is dominated by one perspective,” Mr. Cutts says. “If someone types a product, for example, maybe you want a blog review of it, a manufacturer’s page, a place to buy it or a comparison shopping site.”

-- I've been seeing a lot of this lately for product searches. For example the top 10 results for the keyword "backpacks" in Google changed last week from having mostly e-commerce stores in the top 10 to displaying 5 comparison shopping websites, wikipedia, a few places to buy and a couple of review websites. Pushing the stores to the bottom and moving the portals to the top. It seems like they usually let 1 or 2 affiliate websites squeak in there as well. That's good news for people involved in affiliate marketing...

[peter_d]

Google changed last week from having mostly e-commerce stores in the top 10 to displaying 5 comparison shopping websites, wikipedia, a few places to buy and a couple of review websites.

Yes, great point Webfu.

It's not so much competing with the top ten, it's knowing which one of the top ten your site is competing with!

[CapsLOCK]

Nice article. But in fact noone knows google algo.

[casperl]

That was sth i thought about because of some minor observations. Nice to know.

[king2163]

age factor of google is one of the factor that no body break. i am tired from this factor.

[John Scott]

Originally Posted by CapsLOCK

Nice article. But in fact noone knows google algo.

Pretty sure several Google employees know the algorithm, and many competent SEO's know many elements of the algorithm. Kind of hard to hide an algorithm that is publicly in use on publicly available documents, open to testing by anybody who cares to put a document on the web.

[charlesgan]

fresh content.. yup.
i notice that they are likely to be ranked at position 3 and below.
those authority site or older domain will sit at the top 2, regardless the content is fresh or months old.

[eshop600]

Good info, interesting reading, I guess Michael Barrymore arrested for murder is a hot topic at the moment