Most SEO discussions focus on 2 divisions:
- on-site
- off-site
But there is a 3rd division that is crucial to overtaking your competitors. This third division is Google's measurement of the end-users opinion of a site. By measuring the amount of activity between users and a site - Google can assign a human generated score to the site. This is similar to the PR algorithm except that it is human-based and not a mathematical calculation from the summation of back links and other factors that can be spammed. This human-based score is measured in several ways that have been known for many years. They are very basic:
- bounce rate of users (per search term)
- amount of times clicked (really just a marker for measuring time on a site)
- return visits to the site
- frequency of return visits
- Total Time spent on site
These and other factors combined give Google a picture of human opinions of a site. Each minute spent on a site by individuals is like a vote. Logically this vote would then be summated into the total vote of net users. However, this NetVote is limited to the scope of data Google can collect. Google first started collecting this data through its toolbar deployed in the year 2000.
Here you can see the ascension of the Google toolbar over time
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Toolbar
And you can see a section specifically dedicated to privacy - in particular - "tracking of browsing patterns"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Toolbar#Privacy
By collecting this data encompassing users browsing habits - privacy concerns were raised (but really only by people looking to get money). Google has been sued numerous times over the issue in both state and federal courts:
State court cases:
http://searchengineland.com/google-sued-over-toolbar-sending-data-while-turned-off-55882
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/228200870
Federal court cases:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-...b-surfing-software-reveals-personal-data.html
http://www.research-live.com/news/l...toolbar-data-collection-error/4004038.article
Eventually Google was forced to back down on how aggressively the toolbar collected data. But, it was of course too late because Google had already made billions. Other search providers attempted to launch toolbars of their own.
The current battlefields of this data collection point is on mobile devices. Google took the iPhone and recently Yahoo/Bing negotiated its way onto the latest generation of blackberries (currently the most popular PDA). Usage data and browsing habits will almost certainly be fed back to Yahoo/Bing as they struggle to copy Google's user opinion feedback model.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/bing-to-become-search-default-on-new-blackberry-phones/9338
The point of all this - is that many people struggle to understand why they cannot overtake their competitors in the ranks. Often they have more back links and PR than their competitors. They may also have what is or appears to be superior seo deployed. And so, it doesn't make sense until The NetVote feedback channel is in the picture.
It does not make sense for content and back-links alone to determine a site's hold on a position. If that were the case then the first page(or all positions for that matter) would be ruled by sites with the most back links and content. But, by the time you read this article you have seen this is not always the case. Everyone has seen smaller sites out rank larger sites. We have also seen sites or pages with less back links out rank sites/pages with more back links. And I think people are finally beginning to accept that PR is not the deciding factor.
In the beginning many people obsess over these things and end up wasting a lot of time in doing so. They do this because they're trying to see progress and these are the only quantifiable numbers that are visible. Just like Google does not release the real-time PR of a page or all the back links it knows of, Google will never publicly disclose the intimacies of its algorithms concerning domain usage statistics(from net users). These are the well-kept secrets of Google, especially ones that can lead to additional lawsuits concerning privacy.
We know that Google is monitoring user usage statistics of domains because bounce rate is displayed in Google analytics. And I assure you that bounce rate is being measured by Google wherever possible (regardless of if you have Google analytics code on your site).
This User Vote 3rd factor is simplistic and logical:
- People bounce off of search results that are not what they're looking for.
- People don't spend much time at a site they don't like.
- People do not revisit sites that do not give them what they want
By knowing the majority opinion a domain for a search term: Google can more effective match searchers with domains of their liking. You have probably already noticed slight changes in SERP ranks from when your browser is logged into Google - and when it is not. This is just one of the indicators of how well Google knows you and your interests. By knowing your interests Google can more effectively advertise towards you. And with that in mind you have probably already noticed that Google AdSense banners being presented to you are from sites that you have recently visited. Knowing your shopping habits, hobbies, entertainment and whatever else you might need interested in is high priority for Google as it makes billions off of ADWords revenue by presenting these ADs to you repeatedly.
- Personalized search
- localized search results
- precision ADWords placement
Are all made possible by Google's intimate knowledge of your Internet activities. Human driven feedback channels are nothing new for Google. Actually they are a tradition throughout Google architecture. There's really no substitute for human judgment currently which is why search engine results are not purely driven by back-links,content and mathematical PR.
In a sense, Google has everyone on the net working for them. Each time we do a search - it is being recorded. Each time we click a link, it is being recorded. Each time we interact with a website how many times we clicked and how much time we spent there is being recorded and analyzed by Google. This analysis helps Google provide quality results for those who come after us.
Gmail's unprecedented suppression of spam is a perfect example. By accurately measuring how many humans report a message is spam is quickly eliminated from all Gmail accounts to the point where most of us never even received it.
Many seo consultants and firms avoid or do not acknowledge this 3rd factor of end-user site performance because they typically have no realistic control over it. You can dump tens of thousands of back links and terabytes of content onto a domain. You can do the most perfect seo deployments possible. But when Google sees that people don't spend much time on the domain, never return to it, or a high percentage of people bounce off it after a search - it's pretty clear to Google that the site has low value.
The last thing clients want to hear from their seo people is that there is an enormous price tag (in addition to the seo price tag) and possibly major site expansion when they want to rank for highly competitive search terms. Everyone obviously wants to be number one. In the past with enough financing you could make virtually any site rank in the top five by use of boost factors, link floods and other spam tactics.
However with the recent release of Google panda these past factors may no longer be effective(it's too soon to tell). But even without Google panda, the enormous financial commitment necessary to sustain high rankings only pays off for certain types of businesses. Businesses that can score several thousand dollars in a day justifying the hundreds of dollars a day it may cost to attain those leads.
The purpose of this article is to remind you not to forget about your website. In the rat race to the top many people neglect further development of their website as they chase after back links PR and run through a gauntlet of seo crap-hat factors:
- aged domains
- DMOZ/Directory Authority back-links
- page rank sculpting
- physical server location
- search spider friendly coding
- irrelevant social network linking
- the GooglePray - meta-tag (a playful joke)
All of which are low quality dog food that illegitimate seo consultants/firms are more than happy to dish out at an hourly rate until you realize your level of malnutrition. This dog food being shoveled out by highly promoted seo firms seriously damages the legitimate seo professionals.
In closing I will directly implicate http://www.seop.com/ as an absolute deathtrap for unknowing companies.
SEOP primary objectives:
- establish and maintain a flashy public image to inspire potential customer confidence
- gain customer confidence by citing high-profile companies ( Fortune 500 companies that rarely need any seo at all )
- sign the customer to a month-to-month contract that
- on-site
- off-site
But there is a 3rd division that is crucial to overtaking your competitors. This third division is Google's measurement of the end-users opinion of a site. By measuring the amount of activity between users and a site - Google can assign a human generated score to the site. This is similar to the PR algorithm except that it is human-based and not a mathematical calculation from the summation of back links and other factors that can be spammed. This human-based score is measured in several ways that have been known for many years. They are very basic:
- bounce rate of users (per search term)
- amount of times clicked (really just a marker for measuring time on a site)
- return visits to the site
- frequency of return visits
- Total Time spent on site
These and other factors combined give Google a picture of human opinions of a site. Each minute spent on a site by individuals is like a vote. Logically this vote would then be summated into the total vote of net users. However, this NetVote is limited to the scope of data Google can collect. Google first started collecting this data through its toolbar deployed in the year 2000.
Here you can see the ascension of the Google toolbar over time
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Toolbar
And you can see a section specifically dedicated to privacy - in particular - "tracking of browsing patterns"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Toolbar#Privacy
By collecting this data encompassing users browsing habits - privacy concerns were raised (but really only by people looking to get money). Google has been sued numerous times over the issue in both state and federal courts:
State court cases:
http://searchengineland.com/google-sued-over-toolbar-sending-data-while-turned-off-55882
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/228200870
Federal court cases:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-...b-surfing-software-reveals-personal-data.html
http://www.research-live.com/news/l...toolbar-data-collection-error/4004038.article
Eventually Google was forced to back down on how aggressively the toolbar collected data. But, it was of course too late because Google had already made billions. Other search providers attempted to launch toolbars of their own.
The current battlefields of this data collection point is on mobile devices. Google took the iPhone and recently Yahoo/Bing negotiated its way onto the latest generation of blackberries (currently the most popular PDA). Usage data and browsing habits will almost certainly be fed back to Yahoo/Bing as they struggle to copy Google's user opinion feedback model.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/bing-to-become-search-default-on-new-blackberry-phones/9338
The point of all this - is that many people struggle to understand why they cannot overtake their competitors in the ranks. Often they have more back links and PR than their competitors. They may also have what is or appears to be superior seo deployed. And so, it doesn't make sense until The NetVote feedback channel is in the picture.
It does not make sense for content and back-links alone to determine a site's hold on a position. If that were the case then the first page(or all positions for that matter) would be ruled by sites with the most back links and content. But, by the time you read this article you have seen this is not always the case. Everyone has seen smaller sites out rank larger sites. We have also seen sites or pages with less back links out rank sites/pages with more back links. And I think people are finally beginning to accept that PR is not the deciding factor.
In the beginning many people obsess over these things and end up wasting a lot of time in doing so. They do this because they're trying to see progress and these are the only quantifiable numbers that are visible. Just like Google does not release the real-time PR of a page or all the back links it knows of, Google will never publicly disclose the intimacies of its algorithms concerning domain usage statistics(from net users). These are the well-kept secrets of Google, especially ones that can lead to additional lawsuits concerning privacy.
We know that Google is monitoring user usage statistics of domains because bounce rate is displayed in Google analytics. And I assure you that bounce rate is being measured by Google wherever possible (regardless of if you have Google analytics code on your site).
This User Vote 3rd factor is simplistic and logical:
- People bounce off of search results that are not what they're looking for.
- People don't spend much time at a site they don't like.
- People do not revisit sites that do not give them what they want
By knowing the majority opinion a domain for a search term: Google can more effective match searchers with domains of their liking. You have probably already noticed slight changes in SERP ranks from when your browser is logged into Google - and when it is not. This is just one of the indicators of how well Google knows you and your interests. By knowing your interests Google can more effectively advertise towards you. And with that in mind you have probably already noticed that Google AdSense banners being presented to you are from sites that you have recently visited. Knowing your shopping habits, hobbies, entertainment and whatever else you might need interested in is high priority for Google as it makes billions off of ADWords revenue by presenting these ADs to you repeatedly.
- Personalized search
- localized search results
- precision ADWords placement
Are all made possible by Google's intimate knowledge of your Internet activities. Human driven feedback channels are nothing new for Google. Actually they are a tradition throughout Google architecture. There's really no substitute for human judgment currently which is why search engine results are not purely driven by back-links,content and mathematical PR.
In a sense, Google has everyone on the net working for them. Each time we do a search - it is being recorded. Each time we click a link, it is being recorded. Each time we interact with a website how many times we clicked and how much time we spent there is being recorded and analyzed by Google. This analysis helps Google provide quality results for those who come after us.
Gmail's unprecedented suppression of spam is a perfect example. By accurately measuring how many humans report a message is spam is quickly eliminated from all Gmail accounts to the point where most of us never even received it.
Many seo consultants and firms avoid or do not acknowledge this 3rd factor of end-user site performance because they typically have no realistic control over it. You can dump tens of thousands of back links and terabytes of content onto a domain. You can do the most perfect seo deployments possible. But when Google sees that people don't spend much time on the domain, never return to it, or a high percentage of people bounce off it after a search - it's pretty clear to Google that the site has low value.
The last thing clients want to hear from their seo people is that there is an enormous price tag (in addition to the seo price tag) and possibly major site expansion when they want to rank for highly competitive search terms. Everyone obviously wants to be number one. In the past with enough financing you could make virtually any site rank in the top five by use of boost factors, link floods and other spam tactics.
However with the recent release of Google panda these past factors may no longer be effective(it's too soon to tell). But even without Google panda, the enormous financial commitment necessary to sustain high rankings only pays off for certain types of businesses. Businesses that can score several thousand dollars in a day justifying the hundreds of dollars a day it may cost to attain those leads.
The purpose of this article is to remind you not to forget about your website. In the rat race to the top many people neglect further development of their website as they chase after back links PR and run through a gauntlet of seo crap-hat factors:
- aged domains
- DMOZ/Directory Authority back-links
- page rank sculpting
- physical server location
- search spider friendly coding
- irrelevant social network linking
- the GooglePray - meta-tag (a playful joke)
All of which are low quality dog food that illegitimate seo consultants/firms are more than happy to dish out at an hourly rate until you realize your level of malnutrition. This dog food being shoveled out by highly promoted seo firms seriously damages the legitimate seo professionals.
In closing I will directly implicate http://www.seop.com/ as an absolute deathtrap for unknowing companies.
SEOP primary objectives:
- establish and maintain a flashy public image to inspire potential customer confidence
- gain customer confidence by citing high-profile companies ( Fortune 500 companies that rarely need any seo at all )
- sign the customer to a month-to-month contract that