Patent Application #20050071741 – implications and indications

This entry was posted on
Friday, June 17th, 2005
at
9:07 am and is filed
under Search Engine Optimisation.

SEOmoz – Google’s Patent: Information Retrieval Based on Historical Data: This report has been prepared to help SEOs understand the concepts and practical applications contained in Google’s US Patent Application #20050071741 – Information Retrieval Based on Historical Data. My own advice and interpretation is offered throughout this paper – please conduct your own research before acting on the recommendations.

It’s a hefty read for the novice, and a lot of other people are chatting and theorising about Patent Application #20050071741, but here’s where I stand:

18 months ago, I ran a number of seminars on SEO and held the position that automated link farming was worthless. What sites really needed in order to perform was an organic link-generation programme. Earning genuine, unsolicited links from real members of the online community. This kind of investment seems speculative to most novices (sadly, these are often the people who sign the cheques) but it is worth it for three reasons:

1. Google became Teh Daddy for a *reason*. I predicted that Yahoo and MSN would develop their new databases along Google’s lines, because it made economic sense for them to do so. And I was right. So…. Then: it would work in Google now and in the future, and in Yahoo and MSN not far into the future. Now: it should work in Google, Yahoo and MSN now and in the future.

2. Google *remembers*. There are important aspects to the algorithm that remember past links, past updates, and possibly past click-through behaviour. That is, if you work to get ahead of your competitors (in a sensible and sustainable way) then they will have trouble catching up to you without a time machine. A lot of the details in this patent confirm Google’s interest in a site’s past history.

3. Forget the technical aspects. These will continue to change. But they will continue to change with a *purpose that will not vary*. What you need to do is keep your eye on this purpose. Google is working to provide their users with quality information that has gained a valid reputation. Any site that works honestly to live up to these expectations – with little to no jiggery-pokery beyond simple robot-accessibility (time/focus that used to be spent on playing catch-up over small technical matters should instead be spent improving the site’s reputation) – will start to perform and continue to perform over time. And, of course, the longer they perform in this way… (see: 2)

Genuine content. Ongoing inbound link activity.

There are some interesting nuggets here, but nothing to change my methodology apart from a very clear need to register a domain well before launch and/or place a *slightly* greater value in an existing domain (even if it may not be ideal in terms of keyword strategy or branding).








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