Google and Its Algorithm: Persistence and Change
August 23, 2011
The pot of gold at the end of the internet’s rainbow is Google’s algorithm it uses for determining PageRank. Google, being the most used search engine on the planet, can make or break a website just by where the website falls in search results. The article, Google Algorithm Change History, on SEOmoz, provides major dates of Google algorithm changes.
The PageRank is a patented system of algorithms that is the core of Google’s search engine. Named after Google co-founder, Larry Page, Stanford University holds the patent as Page was a student there when he and Sergey Brin began creating Google. PageRank takes several things into consideration when ranking a webpage such as the number of links other sites have to it, language used within the page, and age of the page.
Because most people click on links found on the first or second page of search results, those 20-40 slots are prime real estate. An industry has popped up, search engine optimization (SEO), as a result promising clients that they can land websites in the top slots. SEOs manipulate search engines to get the results.
Keeping tabs on Google algorithm updates becomes vital to the survival of SEOs. As the article explains,
Each year, Google changes its search algorithm up to 500-600 times. While most of these changes are minor, every few months Google rolls out a “major” algorithmic update that affect search results in significant ways. For search marketers, knowing the dates of these Google updates can help explain changes in rankings and organic website traffic.
While these ‘major’ changes the article speaks of may have an impact on how SEOs conduct their business, the truth of the matter is that Google still relies primarily on the same system it has always used. The impact of Google’s method hits search engine optimization experts hard. The SEO pros, some of whom were former art history majors, must convince their clients that SEO magic can improve a Google result for a particular client. Wow. That is hard since Google is making changes frequently. SEO experts have some sort of answer, but is it the right one?
Catherine Lamsfuss, August 23, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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2 Responses to “Google and Its Algorithm: Persistence and Change”
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There must have been a change in the past few days as its wrecked my ranking!
I really don’t know, looks like the change affected my both sites because they all lost their ranking and am currently earning nothing now.