Google does not stop innovating its search engine, and where others try to follow it, Google is not just 1 step ahead, but 10 steps ahead. His latest innovation, which may actually already be in effect for a year or more, can be found in the patent: “Information retrieval based on historical data.”
The patent summary is: “A system identifies a document and obtains one or more types of historical data associated with the document. The system can generate a score for the document based, at least in part, on one or more types of data. historical “.
This article aims to give an implicit representation of this patent + contains recommendations on what would be the best SEO techniques to obtain high rankings, with a specific focus on links. This article is the opinion of the writer and the following recommendation in this article is made at your own risk.
Google search results have been increasingly difficult to explain and many theories have been developed about what is happening. The most popular is the “sandbox” theory, which says that a new site is placed in a virtual sandbox and has to wait until it has aged before it gets a high ranking. This patent has excellent information that can explain this phenomenon.
Recovery information
The information claimed to be retrieved by this invention from Google based on historical data is:
- Age / time
- Exchange
- Trends
A score is calculated based on the 3 factors above which can then, at least partially, be used to rank the selected pages.
Historic information
The patent describes a large amount of historical data. The following is an overview of most of the items for which historical data can be measured:
- Pages / sites
- Links
- Anchor texts
- happy
- Consultation
- Traffic
- Classification
- User
- Domain
Classification based on information obtained from historical data
The patent describes in considerable detail how selected pages are classified based on information retrieved from historical data. This chapter will describe the basic logic applied.
Age / time
From all the historical data, a start date is used to determine 4 important values:
- age
- Average age
- Dated
- Average date
These factors can be determined for pages, links, anchor text, content, themes, queries, etc. Comparing a page’s age or date to the site average, for example, tells the search engine whether this information is relatively new or old.
Comparing the average age or date of a page to the average age or date of all pages selected for a query (keyword phrase) tells the search engine whether the page is relatively new or old. This information can be used to classify the selected pages.
Comparing with an average has the advantage that there is no predetermined basis of rules that determine the ranking of a page. For one query, 6 months can be considered new (product descriptions, for example), while for another page, 6 days can be considered old (news, for example). It all depends on the middle age.
This same logic applies to links. To determine how popular a page or site is, the average age of all backlinks tells the search engine whether or not the page’s popularity is recent. It makes sense that if most of the backlinks were obtained 4 years ago and hardly anyone has been interested in linking to this page / site since then, the page may not be as popular as the existing backlinks suggest.
The patent even goes so far as to determine the age factors of the anchor texts of the links.
Exchange
Information changes over time. Opinions change, knowledge changes, popularity changes, etc. As mentioned above, a page that was popular 4 years ago may be totally forgotten by now, but it still has most of its backlinks that were obtained when the page was actually popular. However, if this page suddenly becomes popular again and new backlinks start to appear, the average backlink age will remain high. This will prevent the page from ranking high.
Change detection is critical so that old information has a chance to come back to prominence. Consequently, the lack of change can be a reason for lowering the rank of a page.
Trends
Although comparing with averages is a great way to get current information, it doesn’t recognize smaller events like a sudden spike in a page’s popularity. Although change detection helps to recognize smaller events, more information can be obtained by detecting trends.
Spurts in popularity can be due to seasonal events like Christmas or the Super Bowl. For this reason, the search engine will try to determine trends within page links, anchor text, content, topics, queries, etc. Trend detection allows pages to be ranked higher that would not rank high using standard ranking methods or by comparing them to average ages or dates. Google has recognized a very important information fact here: the relevance and importance of information is (con) temporary.
Spam detection using historical data
Having all kinds of historical data available can be used to detect search engine spam. Unexpected events that happen to a site can be an indication of spam. Obviously, a strong one-factor improvement would not be a direct indication of spam, usually several factors show strange behavior when a site uses spam to increase ranking. Google does not want to penalize a site for advertising. However, excessive advertising on unrelated sites / pages will not do your site any good.
recommendations
Nothing changed regarding the links. This patent quite confirms what we already knew and we have also been explaining to our clients. The following recommendations may be helpful:
Keep the links related
Related links matter, unrelated links can be considered spam.
Build links on continuous moderate foundations
As the patent describes, the average age of your backlinks shouldn’t be too high. Therefore, it is advisable to continue adding backlinks to ensure a reasonable average age of all your backlinks. How much you need to add over time depends on your market.
Be better than average
It is very important to be better than average, but do not overdo it. It would be expensive and unnecessary.
Focus on seasonal events
A good way to increase the success of your website is to set up text link campaigns for seasonal events. Start your ad campaign 2-3 months before the actual event so Google has time to find the links and update your site information with them. After the event, you can leave these links again.
Spread links on multiple sites (unique backlinks)
A very important factor is the number of unique websites in your backlinks. Google seems to place a great emphasis on this factor.
