Back engineering the Google algorithm...

[nguyen-phi-hung]

Just for a moment, let’s imagine we’re the guys at Google and we have been tasked with coming up with a formula (a new robust Google search algorithm) that will decide which websites are the best in terms of any query entered into our search engine.



How many factors would we need to consider?



Size, age, frequency of updates, inbound links, outbound links - are there 10, 20, 50 or more than 100 differing factors?



And then, when we have a list, what weighting do we apply to each?



Finally, how do we ensure that no-one can then successfully back engineer our algorithm – do we develop red-herrrings such as PageRank?



Just a thought (or two) - I would be interested to gather a few opinions.



If we set out to achieve what Google want to achieve, why couldn't we possibly recreate (or effectively back-engineer) the Google algo?

More Information:

1. Google is testing a new data center infrastructure, a feat much bigger and comprehensive than an algorithm change
2. Let's hope for our scarce attention's sake that Google can get it right this time, and apply its unquestioned engineering talent in ways that actually
3. Matts said just that Google's algorithms are based only on “wow! this site is good/great, I'll link to it” type of links, because this meritocratic approach leads to better SE results
4. Google algorithms have changed!! What the hell are algorithms? Algorithms are the software "recipes" search engines use for reading keywords, page titles, page descriptions, judging relevancy of text content
5. com 4/9/2010 — Google has kept a promise it made last year: Site speed is now a ranking factor in Google's algorithm, and

More:

• goRank - Keyword Density Research
• Why is this ignored by Google?
• New PageRank & Back Link Data (finally!)
• Old School Google
• google dancing?
• Google Rank After Open Directory Sumission
• Googlebot Able To Understand JavaScript
• Google's Visited the Forum
• Java Redirects
• Googlebot not following robots.txt?

[nhocksoccf]

Quote:

If we set out to achieve what Google want to achieve, why couldn't we possibly recreate (or effectively back-engineer) the Google algo?

Are you looking to create your own ranking algorithm for your own search engine or are you looking to find the factors Google is using in their rankings so that you can better optimize your pages?

More Information:

1. Some new publishers decide to license their work via Creative Commons (hoping to be paid back based on the links economy), but Google wants no part in that! All
2. Then in May of 2007, that statement changed: “A site's ranking in Google's search results relies heavily on computer algorithms using thousands of factors
3. If point of understanding Google algorithm is to climb in SERPs, what interests me at the moment is what SEO (and other) steps to take with upcoming “personalization of Google
4. Udi Manber, a Vice President of Engineering and “Search Guru” at Google, stated in an April 16, 2008 interview, “Last year we made over 450 improvements to the algorithm
5. How they created their Search Engine ranking formula (called an algorithm) was forward engineering
6. What really made Google different though was its entirely new algorithm for determining keyword relevance: PageRank
7. A couple months back, Google reached out to a source of ours in the industry for the job
8. Matt Cutts, an engineer with Google who frequently speaks at industry events and via web-based video, noted of the change, “This is an algorithmic change

[redbigflower]

I think the entire premise Google is built on is a conspiracy (theory)



I wear tinfoil on my head whilst surfing the net just in case

More Information:

1. A slight adjustment in wording, but an important comment on the supremacy of the algorithm that Google had touted for years
2. Where I could see smart filting coming in handy is if Google's algorithm could figure out what i would be interested in more than others, and
3. We did some back engineering in Krakken and found that “acia” actually falls into the market category of “diet” – it is touted as a weight loss product
4. If you suspect a Google penalty, it first makes sense to check whether any Google algorithm changes have been made which could be the cause of the problem
5. In response to Last Watchdog's examination of the security implications of Buzz, Pavni Diwanji, Google's engineering director, on
6. But the efforts of Amazon, eBay and Apple pale in comparison to the most famous algorithm on the web: Google's algorithm is the mathematical
7. The Bounce Back SEO - SEO Technique 'that has worked with google Algorithm'

[teen_au_teen]

Quote:

I think the entire premise Google is built on is a conspiracy (theory)



I wear tinfoil on my head whilst surfing the net just in case

That's comedy! What kind of reception do you get? Are you plugged in for Wi-Fi?

More Information:

1. @mark from boston asks - "can I copy Google's algorithms for search for free" – you probably can and it is not "illegal", because it is very difficult
2. The outcry from webmasters about Google's recent ranking algorithm change has been unprecedented
3. But the Google founders may not have known just how far back PageRank's predecessors reach - nearly 70 years, according to Massimo Franceschet, who
4. ): Proceedings of The 2005 International Conference on Engineering of Reconfigurable Systems and Algorithms, ERSA 2005, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, June 27-30, 2005
5. At the heart of Google's algorithm is, we are told, trust
6. So why does Google need to re-engineer its perfect-looking algorithm so drastically? Has it not heard the saying “if it works, don't fix it”?
7. Or how Google prioritises its search lists? It's all done by algorithms - jealously guarded mathematical recipes that increasingly dictate how we lead our lives
8. Reverse engineering allows us to peel the layers of engineering back one at a time until you can see enough information to see the item works

[khuongmeo]

All I know is I would love to be a fly on the wall in the lab where this type of research actually does happen. The funniest part is you know these guys surf the same seo forums/blogs we do and laugh at all our squirming

More Information:

1. The SEOmoz post talks about how the Google ranking algorithm has changed, while the Marketing Charts post gives some great information on the benefit of generic domain
2. The only clients who win are blackhats who spend the time to reverse engineer Google's paid search ranking algorithm
3. A recent New York Times article said that Google is actually using an algorithm now to help determine whether or not somebody will be a good fit for
4. Neither does anyone else who doesn't work very high in the Google algorithm engineering team
5. by D Auroux - 2009 - Related articlesWe study in this paper a new data assimilation algorithm, called the back and forth nudging (BFN)
6. Naturally, major algorithm updates upset the current high-ranking websites and sends a lot of SEO professionals back to their work-bench in order to start all over again
7. said on the official Google Blog: "We won't (and shouldn't) try to stop the faceless scribes of drivel, but we can move them to the back row of the arena
8. But back in late 2004 when I was talking about nofollow just within Google, I wanted it to be a general way to abstain from voting with links