|
Google changes its algorithm again
Some webmasters
have observed significant ranking changes in Google's search
engine result pages. It seems that Google has tweaked its
algorithm again or that it is still fine-tuning the way it
ranks web pages for its next algorithm update.
What has happened?
Google uses more than 100,000 servers to store its data.
These servers build-the Google data centers. Depending on
the time and the place from which you access Google, Google
will redirect you to different data centers.
For example, you might be redirected to the IP
address 64.233.161.105
or to 216.239.57.105
when you enter www.Google.com in your web browser. Both IP
addresses reflect different data centers in which Google will
search for your query (the IP addresses in this example were
operational on 29 March 2005, they can change at any time).
There are very many different Google data centers and each
data center has its own index. Normally, the contents of the
different data centers is about the same.
Webmasters who observe several data centers have found out
that there are currently three types of data centers. Depending
on which data center group you use for your search query,
you'll get different results.
What does that mean?
It seems that Google uses different algorithms in these data
centers and that Google uses some data centers to test algorithm
changes. Using only a few data centers allows Google to test
algorithm changes without affecting all search results.
The three different data center groups that have been observed
by some webmasters probably reflect the test of different
algorithms that affect the same ranking factor.
Data center group one (the biggest) uses the current algorithm,
group two (a small group) tests algorithm change A, group
three (another small group) tests algorithm change B. That
way, Google can test the best way to improve its algorithm
without affecting all search results.
What does this mean for your web site?
At the moment, this means nothing for your web site. The
changes are only tested in some data centers. If you use Google's
normal web site and if you don't access Google's data centers
directly, chances are that you haven't been affected by these
testing changes.
To optimize your web pages for high Google rankings, take
a look at the web pages that currently have top rankings on
Google and try to find out what these pages have done to get
these rankings. As these pages have top 10 rankings, they
must have done something right.
IBP's Top 10 Optimizer can help you to do
this quickly and easily. IBP's advice is always based
on the latest search engine algorithms.
Don't go mad about Google. Although Google is a very important
search engine, you'll also get targeted visitors from Yahoo,
MSN Search, Ask Jeeves and other search engines. Optimizing
your site for more than one search engine makes you less dependent
on a single player.
|
