According to Google representative Matt Cutts, the search engine giant is now providing "Minty Fresh Indexing"! In other words, optimized content and documents on a website can now show up in a few minutes as opposed to a few days, depending on popularity.
Google continues to revolutionize search by not only incorporating a polling system that requires the crawlers to go out and discover new content on their own (rather than having to be notified of changed content), but to have such a fast indexing speed that it's almost real-time. Google's ultimate goal is to have instant indexing; meaning content would be indexed as it is created.
Recent posts to this very blog are getting picked up in a matter of hours, Google Alerts are hitting my in-box in a matter of minutes.
Labels: google, icrossing
PageRank is Google’s rating of a website’s link value and popularity. This rating is based on a 0-10 scale, with 10 being the most popular, 1 being the least popular, and 0 being banned or unknown to Google. PageRank once played a large role in the way webmasters determined the value and popularity of a site. However, from the onset this method was flawed. In fact, at one time PageRank was given so much weight that it was the sole factor in determining website value and popularity.
PageRank-A working definition
PageRank reflects Google’s view of web page page value by comparing one web page with more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms. Pages that Google deems important receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to appear at the top of the search results”.
Over-emphasis on PageRank
In 2002, any website with an optimized title, a litany of Meta Keyword tags, and high PageRank would outrank other sites. Keep in mind – that was years ago, which from a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) perspective, is an eternity. The formula was no secret. Higher PageRank + Optimized Titles and Meta Tags = Good Rankings. Webmasters found that any site with thousands of pages and a “PageRank 7 or PageRank 8 link” which pointed to their homepage was able to rank for numerous keywords in a relatively short amount of time.
Manipulating the Distribution of PageRank
Mass hysteria ensued in the SEO world as webmasters and website owners discovered the untapped potential for buying and selling PageRank. Sites with high PageRank started selling links to sites with low PageRank who were willing to pay inflated prices to boost standings. The buying and selling of PageRank skyrocketed, in fact, many companies were built with buying and selling PageRank as their sole purpose. Companies with eBay-style auction sites emerged with the intention of enabling users to independently buy and sell PageRank. Some of the newest and least-ethical websites prospered by gaining top rankings in Google’s Search Engine Ranking Positions (SERPS) through the purchase of PageRank.
Some of the newest and least-ethical websites prospered by gaining top rankings in Google’s Search Engine Ranking Positions (SERPS) through the purchase of PageRank.
Google Adapts the Value PageRank
Google’s ranking algorithms were forced to adapt to the influx of websites that were manipulating their positioning. This behavior triggered a decrease in PageRank importance. As it began losing its value in Google’s ranking algorithms, PageRank started playing a secondary role to other important factors such a, quality content, the age of a domain, and the associated trust (or authoritativeness) that is placed upon a quality site.
PageRank in Link Popularity
Now that Google’s algorithms have become more sophisticated and are leaning toward link popularity as a main ranking factor, it is important to outline the effect, albeit minimal, that PageRank plays. In today’s SEO world, link popularity is the most important ranking factor for Google. While PageRank was Google’s way of determining the quality of a link, what’s more important now is the number of quality links that a website has. A link from a page (such as a directory listing) with low PageRank, but high search-engine rankings is a much higher-quality link than one with high PageRank but little or no visibility in search engine rankings.
Conclusion
With each new search result exploit that emerges, Google rises to the challenge and responds with an optimized algorithm. In the early SEO days PageRank played a major role in determining search ranking. In today’s search ranking universe, PageRank is one part of the search pie, one factor when all other ranking factors are equal.
We at iCrossing look at PageRank when assessing a pages value, but that's where our research begins.
Labels: google, icrossing, pagerank, seo
Google now provides a two-page cheat sheet listing all of its services, online tools and company information. The Google Cheat Sheet is a great reference for people who want to understand Google query building techniques, concepts and ideas – good for beginners and experts alike. Some of the information provided includes:
- A list of Google domains
- Company aspects such as the history of Google, key people as well as financial and contact info.
- Page Rank information
- Google’s most entertaining services and tools
- Query structure to access directory listings of movie and music files
- Google operators
- And much more
The SEO team at iCrossing created a similar sheet long ago, but it's nice to see something more official.Labels: google, icrossing, seo