Google recently announced that
the PageRank toolbar won't be updated anymore. Does this mean that Google won't
use PageRank as a ranking factor anymore? A Google patent that was granted in
September indicates that Google might use some kind of PageRank 2.0 to rank
pages.
New methods that Google uses to rank web pages
Google's new patent with the name
"Onsite and offsite search ranking results" lists several on-site and
off-site factors that Google might use to rank web pages. This could be
something like PageRank 2.0.
1. On-site data that Google might use
On-site data is data that can be
retrieved from the analyzed web page and the complete website. According to the
patent, Google might consider this information:
• The
frequency of the searched keyword on the web page or website.
• The
location of the searched keyword on the page.
• The
placement of the web page in the structure of the web site. For example, the
home page might be regarded as more important than a page the requires several
clicks before it can be viewed.
• How
often a web page is linked from other pages of the same website.
2. Off-site data that Google might use
In addition to on-site data,
Google also uses off-site data to determine the position of a website. Off-site
data refers to ranking signals that can be identified without accessing the web
page:
• The
number of links to a page or website from other websites.
• The
number of times a web page has been clicked in the search results for a
particular keyword.
• Other
statistical data about the relevance of a site.
• Topical
relevance to other sites: if many sites that are relevant to the keyword link
to the same site, the linked site becomes more relevant.
• Authoritative
relevance to other site: the number of links to the site can indicate a high
authority of the site. Websites with a high level of authority could be trusted
more.
• Web
pages that have links from websites with high authority get a higher authority
than websites that are linked from sites with less authority.
• According
to the patent, websites with a higher number of links get a higher authority.
