Links and Age as Search Engine Ranking Factors - Link Popularity of a Site
(Page 4 of 4 )
This is one of the most important factors. The more links a site has from around the web, the more authoritative it is. Once authority is in place, a site can rank relatively crappy documents based only on domain trust.
Clickthroughs, Bookmarks, RSS and other behavioral factors
Click through data and time spent on site definitely get attention from search engines. If 8 out of 10 visitors click on the first result, spend 30 seconds there, click back, go to the second result and spend five minutes there, -- it's a good indicator that number 2 is more relevant than 1.
Google also has Reader, Toolbar and Chrome, which can all collect behavioral data about users. If (for example) 1000 users with similar Reader subscriptions and search patterns start spending a lot of time on a specific site, it gives Google more information about that site.
Google has most of this data, and they're already using it in "personalized search." I believe they are still in the process of analyzing, developing algorithms, testing and tweaking. It's definitely going to be a big factor in the next several years.
Direct Searches For Domain/Brand
If people want something, it gives Google good information about a website. Over time, combined with link growth and other trust factors, this can help rankings.
There are thousands of people who see no difference between a search box and an address bar, typing: www.site.com... If you spell the address right, Google will even direct you to it without showing search results, acting like an address bar.
It makes sense to use a little of this data.
In the next article we will continue covering: query and site relationship, manual authority, keyword in domain and tags, type of link, location of link, reciprocals, target page, source, outbounds and more.
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
