Search engine optimization: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:12, 26 July 2011

Revision as of 03:15, 26 July 2011

Line 22:

Page and Brin founded [[Google]] in 1998. Google attracted a loyal following among the growing number of Internet users, who liked its simple design.<ref name="bbc-1">{{cite news|author=Thompson, Bill|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3334531.stm|title=Is Google good for you?|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=December 19, 2003|accessdate=2007-05-16}}</ref> Off-page factors (such as PageRank and hyperlink analysis) were considered as well as on-page factors (such as keyword frequency, [[meta tags]], headings, links and site structure) to enable Google to avoid the kind of manipulation seen in search engines that only considered on-page factors for their rankings. Although PageRank was more difficult to game, webmasters had already developed link building tools and schemes to influence the [[Inktomi]] search engine, and these methods proved similarly applicable to gaming PageRank. Many sites focused on exchanging, buying, and selling links, often on a massive scale. Some of these schemes, or [[link farm]]s, involved the creation of thousands of sites for the sole purpose of [[spamdexing|link spamming]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Zoltan Gyongyi and Hector Garcia-Molina|url=http://infolab.stanford.edu/~zoltan/publications/gyongyi2005link.pdf| format = PDF | title=Link Spam Alliances|publisher=Proceedings of the 31st VLDB Conference, Trondheim, Norway|year=2005|accessdate=2007-05-09}}</ref>

By 2004, search engines had incorporated a wide range of undisclosed factors in their ranking algorithms to reduce the impact of link manipulation. Google says it ranks sites using more than 200 different signals.<ref name="nyt0607">{{cite news|publisher=[[New York Times]]|accessdate=2007-06-06|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/business/yourmoney/03google.html|title=Google Keeps Tweaking Its Search Engine|date=June 3, 2007 | first=Saul | last=Hansell}}</ref> The leading search engines, [[Google]], [[Bing]], and [[Yahoo]], do not disclose the algorithms they use to rank pages. Notable SEO service providers, such as Rand Fishkin, Scott Levy, Bruce Clay,[[Barry Schwartz (technologist)|Barry Schwartz]], [[Aaron Wall]] and [[Jill Whalen]], have studied different approaches to search engine optimization, and have published their opinions in online [[Internet forum|forums]] and [[blog]]s.<ref>{{cite web|author=Danny Sullivan|url=http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/050929-072711|title=Rundown On Search Ranking Factors|publisher=[[Search Engine Watch]]|date=September 29, 2005|accessdate=2007-05-08|authorlink=Danny Sullivan (technologist)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors|title=Search Engine Ranking Factors V2|publisher=SEOmoz.org|date=April 2, 2007|accessdate=2007-05-14}}</ref> SEO practitioners may also study patents held by various search engines to gain insight into the algorithms.<ref>{{cite web|author=Christine Churchill|url=http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3564261|title=Understanding Search Engine Patents|publisher=[[Search Engine Watch]]|date=November 23, 2005|accessdate=2007-05-08}}</ref>

In 2005 Google began personalizing search results for each user. Depending on their history of previous searches, Google crafted results for logged in users.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://searchenginewatch.com/3563036 |title=Google Personalized Search Leaves Google Labs - Search Engine Watch (SEW) |publisher=searchenginewatch.com |accessdate=2009-09-05 }}</ref> In 2008, [[Bruce Clay]] said that "ranking is dead" because of [[personalized search]]. It would become meaningless to discuss how a website ranked, because its rank would potentially be different for each user and each search.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/11/17/seo-about-to-get-turned-on-its-ear |title=Will Personal Search Turn SEO On Its Ear? | WebProNews |publisher=www.webpronews.com |accessdate=2009-09-05 }}</ref>