Google’s Ranking Algorithm Goes Social
By Chris Angus. Filed in Organic Search |Tags: Delicious, Digg, Facebook, Google, Hyperlink, Searching, social media, twitter
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
by Chris Angus
Google’s algorithm is believed to use over 200 signals to determine where a page should rank for a particular query, and this number seems to be growing at a phenomenal rate. Google hates its search engine being manipulated by SEO practitioners like me, and is constantly changing its algorithm to become more resilient against search spam.
While hyperlinks from other Web sites remain by far the strongest signal of a Web page’s quality (and therefore its visibility on Google), now Google also looks to many other factors to determine whether a page or Web site is important. They are doing this because back links are too readily manipulated (mainly through people buying them), so Google wants some back-up verification as to whether the page has genuine interest or importance.
These secondary signals will largely come from the largest social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook , Digg, and Delicious. Google won’t look only at if there have been submissions to these sites, but, more importantly, how successful they have been. Some examples of strong signals that Google might be looking for include:
- How many Tweets a particular piece of content has received, and the reputation of the Tweeters
- How many Diggs a piece of content received, and whether it reached the front page of Digg.
- How many votes a particular submission has received on Delicious
Similar signals might apply to the other social media sites, so Google can further understand whether a particular page is important.
Google is starting to look for signals beyond its own boundaries because regular link spammers will have to manipulate many more systems and algorithms to achieve the same results. At the same time. links are not as free flowing as before because people are voting for pieces of content without having to link to them. We’ve started to notice that a particular piece of content before might have received 100 or more links if it was well-written and strongly promoted. These days, it might get just four or five links and 90 tweets. So Google must look beyond links and their particular reputation or level of trust to understand what the Web is doing and what’s important and current.
To rank well on Google in the future, take a holistic and organic approach and promoting yourself and your company in as many popular mediums as possible. You’ll also reap all the side benefits of social media interaction. This is truly a case of 1 + 1 = 3 for savvy marketers.
Wednesday, April 28th 2010 at 2:08 pm |
Interestingly I’m actually surprised that Google has not yet included the “collective voice” in their ranking algo. You can see StumbleUpon thumbs up and favorites bookmarked but it doesn’t seem to influence ranking.
Thursday, April 29th 2010 at 12:20 am |
good article. Nobody knows what Google knows.
Thursday, April 29th 2010 at 10:16 am |
Does anyone truly understand the Google algorythmn? Im not sure that i will ever get to understand how we all get ranked, lose rankings, gain PR etc. I try to follow all the hints and tips and in some fields it works in others it doesnt. I guess that it depends how aggressive the market place is etc too.
Thursday, April 29th 2010 at 12:00 pm |
That’s a great question, Matt. I have over 20 years of experience in search technology, and I don’t claim to know everything about the ranking algorithms of any of the search engines. What’s more, I don’t recommend worrying too much about it.
When you read an article like this one from Chris, it’s not intended for you to exclaim, “Oh, crap! Now I need to get people to bookmark my articles in Delicious!” Instead, it is just a nudge that says, “Social media is important.” Besides all the great benefits that social media brings by driving attention and site traffic, it helps your organic search rankings, too.
Don’t twist yourself into a pretzel trying to figure out how the ranking algorithm works. Instead, if you focus on the things you should do that help you connect with your customers, the search engines will reward you. Yes, there are some specific tips that help you compete in search, but don’t become obsessed about outsmarting the algorithm. That’s probably the harder path to success.
Wednesday, May 5th 2010 at 9:08 pm |
The rich companies (or venture backed) can hire an army in order to spam the social media and to click on the vote systems.
Not really democratic.
Monday, June 7th 2010 at 10:31 pm |
Social media would appear to be an appropriate medium from which to gauge the interest in or verify the importance of certain consumer products. But there will be a dearth of discussions about other product categories – where does this leave business-to-business products? Perhaps the lack of a mass online social discussion around non-consumer products will leave competitors selling bulk steel or photocopiers an even SE playing field?
Saturday, July 31st 2010 at 11:51 pm |
My experience has been that creating good content and frequently updating (blogging) is great for SEO. High quality relevant content is what people are looking for when they search. I think that’s what many people forget when they are thinking in terms of SEO. Google changed its algorithm when the SERPs were driven by people creating links to game AdWord because when you Googled…you found a lot of crap. We have to remember that Google is in the business of search. The more relevant the search results are to the keywords entered – the better for Google. In a way this says to me that those who will have the best long term SERPs will be those who are continuously creating content that is relevant. Everything on every web page should be focused toward the keywords people would search.
Monday, November 8th 2010 at 9:52 am |
If you have a business or site you need to promote you can do it by creating a business profile on some of these networks. You can load images, your logo, etc. into your profile and it will be visible for your virtual friends and all the users who visit your profile. You can also put topics on groups related to your business and stabilish new contacts that can lead to sales, subscriptions or anything else.