ISEdb.COM

For the past six
or seven years, one of the most dominant factors in determining page or
document placement has been an evaluation of incoming links. Google
pioneered the method, known as Pagerank, in its original algorithm and
has refined it ever since. The recent flap over Pagerank revaluations
might provide SEOs a broader hint at changes happening behind the
scenes at Google and other major search engines. While unintended,
Google might be signaling a step away from Pagerank as a primary means
of recommendation and valuation.

A shift away from link based scoring methods would be an enormous
step for Google to make however, looking at the evolution of the
Internet, it is a logical step to make. Information transmitted over
the Internet is changing rapidly as are user-habits. While it will
continue to be a primarily text based medium, today’s Internet
infrastructure allows easier access to a multiplicity of file types and
formats, many of which are not conducive to the link-loving Google grew
up on.

Predictably, user-habits are changing as rapidly as improved
technology or interactivity allows them to. Perhaps the most prescient
example is the social network revolution currently being fronted by
Facebook and MySpace. Internet users are beginning to use their social
networks as web-portals, the same way they once used Google and Yahoo!.
Social networks are all about linkage however many if not most links
found within social networks are useless from a search ranking
perspective.

These two factors, combined with the anticipated expansion of
Google’s reach into the cellular phone market and a few recent patent
applications lead me to speculate Google is radically reworking its
primary ranking algorithms. Relevance and location are in, links are
likely on their way out.

Two Google patents particularly pertaining to the relevance of location are Shared Geo-Located Objects and Ranking and Clustering of Geo-Located Objects.
Both outline how Google uses information drawn from various sources,
including files shared amongst Google Earth users, to figure out which
documents might be most relevant to unique users. These scoring methods
demonstrate a movement away from algorithmic assumptions made through
link-analysis, placing greater weight on objective comment from users.

Another patent, Identification of Semantic Units From Within a Search Query
shows how Google is paying more attention to the intent of its users
than it did the intent of site designers or search marketers. By
tracking and matching similar keyword searches, Google is trying to
anticipate the information needs of its users over the recommendations
of web designers and search marketers as expressed in placed links.

Google’s movement away from link-based SERPs can also be seen in its
graphic interface and in the result-sets returned to searchers. Over
the past year, Google has experimented with several means of delivering
information and search results to its users. Far from the basic blank
face Google has long displayed, users are now searching Google
interfaces that resemble news and information portals. The iGoogle
homepage is the most stark example. Attempts at the personalization and
“Univesalization” SERPs two others.

Google and the other major search engines are bringing more
information into search results from a wider variety of sources. As
those results begin to better reflect what each individual searcher is
seeking, the means and methods of ranking those results are shifting.

SEOs should be looking for ways to vastly improve each document they
work on from a user experience perspective. Knowing Google tracks the
movements of search-users from query to completion, SEOs should think
about how Google perceives the paths taken by each site-visitor as they
extract information from any given document. Links will continue to
provide pathways for search spiders to pursue however the enormous
weight applied to links is likely to wane in importance over the coming
months.