7 characteristics of how Google evaluates backlinks

What exactly did Google announce?

Google announced several changes of the ranking algorithm. The most important change was the change of the backlink analysis:

"Link evaluation. We often use characteristics of links to help us figure out the topic of a linked page. We have changed the way in which we evaluate links; in particular, we are turning off a method of link analysis that we used for several years. We often rearchitect or turn off parts of our scoring in order to keep our system maintainable, clean and understandable."

What does this mean for your web page rankings?

Unfortunately, Google doesn't go into detail. As mentioned in Google's statement, Google uses "characteristics of links" to figure out the topic of a linked page.

We'll take a look at the characteristics below. Then we'll try to find out which element could have been changed.

Characteristic 1: the text of the link

The anchor text of a link has been the most important factor for a long time. If many sites link to a page with the anchor text "green apple" then the page will get high rankings for the term "green apple".

Characteristic 2: the link power of the linking page

Links from pages with many inbound links have a higher influence than links from pages with few backlinks.

Characteristic 3: content and page proximity

If you sell shoes on your website then the link to your website will have a bigger impact if the text that surrounds the link to your page is about shoes. If the link to your website is surrounded by totally unrelated text then the link won't count as much.

Characteristic 4: link attributes such as nofollow and title

Links that use the rel=nofollow attribute don't affect the position of your web pages on Google. Some webmasters think that using title attributes can have a positive effect if these contain the targeted keywords. Others think that this could trigger a spam filters.

Characteristic 5: redirects and shortened URLs

Redirects and shortened URLs such as http://bit.ly/a4X4th are URLs that redirect to another URL. Should these URLs carry full weight when it comes to calculate the position of a website?

Characteristic 6: the age of a website

The older a link is, the more Google tends to trust that link. Links that remain for a long time seem to have a bigger impact than links that come and go.

Characteristic 7: the affiliation of the linking sites

Links from websites that have the same owner and links from affiliates may have a different influence on the rankings of a web page than links from websites that are not affiliated with the page.

Of course, we can only speculate what Google has changed. It is likely that Google now only considers the anchor text of a link if that link is placed in the right context (page and content proximity). Another possibility is that affiliate links (redirected or with page variables) will have less influence on the rankings of a page.

Just continue to get good backlinks and optimize the content of your pages. We provide Professional SEO Services for all kind off large, medium and Small Business SEO requirements.

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Google Announcement: Algorithm Update

Google announced 40 changes in the ranking algorithm. The most important changes were another Panda update and changes in the way Google evaluates links. How do these changes affect the rankings of your web pages?



Google's Panda 3.3 update

Google announced the following:

"Panda update. This launch refreshes data in the Panda system, making it more accurate and more sensitive to recent changes on the web."

This sounds similar to the Panda update that Google released in January. That update was described as a 'data refresh'. That means that Google probably didn't add new ranking signals.

New backlink evaluation

Google's announcement about the new backlink evaluation leaves much room for speculation:

"Link evaluation. We often use characteristics of links to help us figure out the topic of a linked page. We have changed the way in which we evaluate links; in particular, we are turning off a method of link analysis that we used for several years. We often rearchitect or turn off parts of our scoring in order to keep our system maintainable, clean and understandable."

Google does not go into more detail and it's hard to tell what the exact method of link analysis that they used for several years is. It's likely that they probably turned off a method that is abused by many spammers.

Many more changes

In addition to the changes above, Google announced many more changes: more coverage for related searches, a tweak to the categorizer for expanded sitelinks, less duplication in expanded sitelinks, more accurate detection of official pages, improved local results and more.

What does this mean to the rankings of your web pages?

Google is working hard on eliminating spam from the result pages. If you use spammy techniques to promote your website, chances are that your rankings will drop.

The backlink evaluation change indicates that Google found a way to deal with manipulated backlinks. If you participate in automated linking schemes, your website might get into trouble.

If you want to get lasting results on Google, you have to use ethical search engine optimization methods that play by the rules. Do not use automated link building systems but try to get high quality backlinks to your website.

Google Friendly Page Layout Algorithm & Penalty

Google announced a new algorithm change that looks at your page layout and if the ads above the fold are excessive, your site can be penalized and downgraded in the search results. This comes with no surprise to me and others, because 10 weeks ago, Matt Cutts announced that this is something Google is working towards. Google wrote: We've heard complaints from users that if they click on a result and it's difficult to find the actual content, they aren't happy with the experience. Rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away. So sites that don't have much content "above-the-fold" can be affected by this change. If you click on a website and the part of the website you see first either doesn't have a lot of visible content above-the-fold or dedicates a large fraction of the site’s initial screen real estate to ads, that’s not a very good user experience. Such sites may not rank as highly going forward. Google released a special tool at browsersize.googlelabs.com to help you visualize if your site may or was impacted by this. Here is how this site looks:

We seem to be okay, but what about Google's own search results. Well, Google won't let you plug in their own URLs into the tool, so it is hard to tell but I doubt they would pass the test.

Danny Sullivan, as well as many others, go through the hypocrisy with this new penalty and how Google is doing the exact opposite. Not only that, they recommend to their AdSense customers to place ads top heavy so users click on them. Here is their ad map:

That being said, the algorithm is out, if you were hit, you would probably know by now. To fix it, remove some of those ads, and wait and wait until Google pushes out an update. It can takes weeks. If you decide to update your page layout, the page layout algorithm will automatically reflect the changes as we re-crawl and process enough pages from your site to assess the changes. How long that takes will depend on several factors, including the number of pages on your site and how efficiently Googlebot can crawl the content. On a typical website, it can take several weeks for Googlebot to crawl and process enough pages to reflect layout changes on the site. Who is affected? Google said 1 in every 100 searches are. If you read the forums, almost every thread talks about how Google is doing one thing and saying the other. Get your website designed in a best Google friendly layout by our Affordable Website Design Services India. Source

SEO Mistakes to avoid!

Most of the times your SEO agencies make some silly mistakes and your SEO campaign smash. Find below the reasons why your SEO Campaign didn’t worked or isn't working and how to fix it and make work for you:

1. Sometimes SEO’s make a mistake of aiming too high competitive keyword rather than aiming for a moderately competitive keyword with has decent amount of search traffic.

2. Understand your niche and requirement properly and utilize your resources across three key areas: keyword research, on-page content development and link building.

3. When targeting particular keyword, don’t just try to rank for one, two or three terms but keep the variations in mind and target groups. These variations will rank fast and will drive in more traffic.

4. Don’t keep jumping from plan A to B to C and then back to plan A, instead make a solid plan based on current market research and stick to it in order to succeed with your SEO campaign. Stay focused!

5. Most Important - Make sure that you have on-page content development strategy all set as content is still the KING!

6. Focus on quality link building and don’t just drop links on any page using any anchor text. Make sure you're targeting the right selection of “exact” terms – as these are the terms that you can realistically rank for.

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New Google patent

Last week, a new patent application was published that shows how Google might evaluate references on the Internet. The more Google trusts a source, the higher the influence of the reference. You might want to take another look at your links and Google's +1 button.

What is a reference?

There are two main ways in which people can reference other people's websites:

• links from one site to the other
• clicks on buttons such as Facebook's "Like" button or Google's "+1" button.

Google uses these references to calculate the relevance of a website for the search results. The more and the better the references are, the higher your website will be listed in Google's search results.

Not all references are equal

The patent application explains it as follows:

"Not all references, however, are necessarily of equal significance. For example, a reference by another agent with a high reputational score is of greater significance than a reference by another agent with a low reputational score.

Thus, the reputation of a particular agent, and therefore the reputational score assigned to the particular agent, should depend not just on the number of references to the content signed by the particular agent, but on the importance of the referring documents and other agents.

This implies a recursive definition: the reputation of a particular agent is a function of the reputation of the content and agents which refer to it."

For example, someone who shares high quality information on a regular basis might become a "trusted agent". References of that person will have a higher influence on the referenced page than references from other people.

What does this mean to your website?

The Google patent indicates that it does not make sense to buy links or +1 clicks in bulk. Low quality backlinks and +1 clicks from people who will click the +1 button on any website won't help your search engine rankings.

If you want to get higher rankings on Google, you need backlinks from high quality websites and you must make sure that only people who like your website click the +1 buttons on your site (click here for instructions on how to add Google's +1 button to your site).

Quality is much more important than quantity. Don't fall for quick-fix SEO solutions that promise hundreds of backlinks in a short time with no work. These backlinks won't help your website and it is likely that Google might consider them spam.

Source - Axandra Search Engine Facts

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