Google rankings Jan16 '04
I buzzed by this earlier this morning, and I wanted to get a better understanding on how Google works, how one can be ranked so high, and if it even matters in the grand scheme of things.
I knew it had something to do with links. The more web sites linking to your site gives you a higher ranking. Hence, the more web sites linking to your site means your site has some value to it.
Well, I was partially correct.
Below is the explanation taken directly from the Google web site, explaining how software called "PageRank" ranks web sites. It is actually quite interesting:
PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."
Important, high–quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don’t match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text–matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page’s content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it’s a good match for your query.
I like the part about "democratic nature." That is funny, but true.
So, basically, it is not only important for other sites to link to your site – it is important for sites that have received a lot of votes themselves to link to your site. Make sense? Absolutely.
So... to get back to my point... Does it matter to be ranked high on Google? If you type "matthom" into Google, I am the first site that shows up. But how common is the search query "matthom?" Probably not very. If you type in just "Matt," as the other Matt does (from above), my site is no where to be found. I would rather have people find me by typing in "Matt," than "Matthom."
I guess I have some work to do on my search engine keywords. And Google, well... I won’t use that as a measure of how "important" my site is. I really could not care less if I am ranked high or low... or not there at all. All that matters is that my site exists. I’ll take it from there.
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is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from Chicago.
Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.
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