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Google modified its ranking algorithms
Google has recently made changes to its ranking algorithms.
There are no offical words from Google but it seems that the
changes has been made to fight two phenomena that worried
Google:
- "Google bombing"
- selling advertising based on Google PageRank
"Google bombing" means that a lot of Web pages
link to the same Web page with the same link text. For example,
if you searched Google with the phrase "go to hell",
the number one result was microsoft.com because many Web pages
linked to microsoft.com with that exact phrase.
With the latest Google update, searching for "go to
hell" no longer takes you to microsoft.com.
Then there are sites that sell text ads and links where the
prices are determined by the Google PageRank of the sites.
This means that you'd pay for a link to your Web site depending
on the Google PageRank of the other site.
Google doesn't like it. Links are not placed because the
linked site has important content but because the linked site
has money. If many sites would sell their links, then Google's
PageRank algorithm wouldn't work.
So what has changed in Google ranking algorithms? There are
some hints:
- To stop Google bombing, Google now seems to check link
texts with the link Web site. If the link text doesn't appear
in the linked site, then the link is ignored or degraded.
- To stop PageRank monetization, Google seems to put lower
value to link texts if the linked pages don't have a high
PageRank.
Some people claim that the algorithm changes degraded the
quality of Google's search results. This
Web page provides examples.
Wired article about the news:
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,55597,00.html
More about Google bombing: http://uber.nu/2001/04/06/
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