Every so often, Google’s staff members update the search engine’s search algorithm. They don’t do this to frustrate website owners or to make things needlessly complicated; they do this in an effort to continually improve the site’s algorithm in order to bring users the best, most useful search results. Spammers are always finding ways to outsmart the system, and Google staff members seek to stay two steps ahead.
Unfortunately, this means that website owners also have to continually update their strategies as well if they want to continue to rank well. Figuring out which strategies are the most helpful in increasing a site’s Page Rank with high PR domains can be tricky, since Google’s algorithms are so complicated. There is no official Google SEO guide that users can use to rank. Instead, website owners often achieve success by combining proven SEO strategies with trial and error. This is also how Google staff members rate their new algorithms as well.
Contrary to popular belief, Google’s search rankings are not solely determined mechanically by Google’s algorithm results alone. Google actually has a team dedicated to reviewing the search results by hand and identifying which sites are quality and which sites are spam. The reviewers grade the sites based several factors, including whether the site is relevant, high quality or spam. Not every site receives a rating, and these ratings are not published.
When Google creates a new algorithm based on the changes that the staff has determined need to be made, the new search results are compared to the ratings given by the review team. If the sites that the review team has marked as quality rank higher and the sites that the review team has marked as spam rank lower, then Google’s staff knows that the new algorithm is an improvement.
In addition to comparing the new page rankings to the staff ratings, Google staff can also interweave the results from both lists to see which set of results receives more clicks. Ideally, the set that receives a greater number of clicks should be the set that is providing the most useful results. Google wants to provide people with links that they want to click on to get the information they need.
Of course, just because a link receives clicks does not mean it is quality. Spam sites also receive a number of clicks each day. However, because the review team has already marked these sites as spam, Google already knows not to include them in the data. This is why Google staff uses a combination of both methods to ensure the best possible search results.
While Google’s search results are never going to be perfect, by comparing sites’ rankings to staff ratings and by doing click tests, Google is better able to provide the best query results possible. Once the staff is confident that the algorithm will work well and Google officially rolls out the update, it is then up to the website owner to determine the best Google SEO guide going forward.
Internet Marketing Team has built custom internal software to track theses changes to Googles Algorithm and adjusts their clients SEO strategy automatically to keep their page one rankings. If you are interested in having Internet Marketing Team take over your Phoenix SEO Services give us a call at 480-999-3080.