A Look Inside Google’s Algorithm
When you’re in the business of search engine optimization – be it local search, pay-per-click advertising, or optimizing sites – it helps to understand what you’re shooting for.
But how can you do that? Google, Bing and Yahoo! all keep their search algorithms under wraps, so it’s tough to know exactly what sites will rise to the top. (Otherwise, people would be madly-rushing to game the system, which would demolish the value of the search engines for their users.)
Google in particular is known for its secrecy regarding the way its search engine returns relevant results. But sometimes we get a glimpse of the way things work ‘under the hood.’
In a recent Wired Magazine article, Steven Levy discusses some of the in’s and out’s of Google’s algorithm, as well as its infrastructure and development process. While it won’t give you any concrete info on how to get your listings to the top, it’s a fascinating article (albeit a long one) that any person concerned with search would do well to read.
After reading it, you’ll definitely look at search differently.
- Kipp
**UPDATE – In an ironic twist since this article was published, Mike Siwek (referenced in the article) has lost his #1 ranking in Google. Wordstream reports on the situation in How Wired Jacked Mike Siwek’s #1 Google Ranking.
Tags: google, Google rankings, search engine optimization, web services
