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Turning the New Google Search Patent to Your Advantage

It’s no secret Google is evolving as a search engine in pursuit of higher relevancy and more useful search results. In order to combat the gowing problem of spam, Google releases new search patents at least a couple of times a year.  Google recently filed a new patent named “System and method for supporting editorial opinion in the ranking of search results”. While this new search patent is not breaking any new grounds it is important to discuss how it may affect search engine ranking results once they are implemented. Please keep in mind that Google may or may not implement any of the search patents it files, nonetheless there is a good reason to believe at some point these and other search patents may become the ranking algorithms your web site will be measured against in the future. 

We all know there are limits to what mathematical formulas in search engine algorithms able to accomplish when it comes to delivering relevant search results. At some point or another, we had all come cross examples of bad search results full of spammy web sites on all the search engines including Yahoo, MSN and Google. Have you ever asked yourself the question how those irrelevant web sites are able to grab top ranking despite the best efforts of the search engines. 

Since incoming links and the anchor text in those incoming links are the major part of today's search engine ranking algorithms, unscrupulous webmasters had caught on to manipulating search results by obtaining links from a variety of questionable sources. Some of these link sources include guestbook spam, blog spam, forum signature spam and other methods to artificially inflate the target web sites’ link popularity score. Google has a lot lower tolerance for this type of link spamming than the other two search engines Yahoo and MSN, but even Google is not exempt from link popularity manipulation schemes. This new search patent is designed to create a new type of search algorithm which is based partly on mathematical formulas and human editorial content.

The New Google Search Patent Explained

In this new search patent Google would like to introduce us to the concept of editorial review and how it affects the creation of set of websites as favored and non-favored sources.
You may have already heard about trustrank and hilltop algorithms used by search engines to separate the really useful websites from the millions of junk web pages. Just to briefly recap, trustrank is used to define a set of values based on the domain name registration length, the domain age, the back links pointing to the web site and their are age just to name a few.
However, this new search patent share many similarities wit the hilltop algorithm introduced a few years ago which is based on creating a set of “expert documents” using a manual editorial review process.

The new Google “System and method for supporting editorial opinion in the ranking of search results” search patent tries to improve relevancy by creating a list of “favored resources” based on a similar editorial review process used by hilltop, but instead it uses as set of well known directories such as the Yahoo directory and DMOZ.

Google explains the process of determining favored resources this way in the patent:

“In an implementation consistent with the present invention, the set of favored and non-favored sources may be automatically determined. To accomplish this, exemplary queries in the query theme may be classified into a set of topics (e.g., an online topic hierarchy, such as Yahoo!, Open Directory, or Google) using the approach for classification described above. Web hosts that appear in the URLs associated with the best matching topics to the query theme may be taken to be favored sources. For example, if the query theme is "sites that help in finding accommodation," then web hosts listed under the Open Directory category "http://dmoz.org/Recreation/Travel/Lodging" can be taken as favored sources.”

This explanation immediately bring us to the next question, what other websites and directories will be used as favored resources, and how those websites will be identified as favored resources?

According to the patent Google will also employ human editors to scour the web for other favored resources:

“This identification of favored sources and non-favored sources may be performed manually by the editors (e.g., by performing test queries and identifying those web sites that are misleading) or automatically by the client device 110 or server 120 or 130 (e.g., by identifying web hosts that exist under conventional hierarchical online directories as "favored sources" or "non-favored sources").”

Sounds like the DMOZ and Yahoo directory will have a very special role to play in determining what those favored resources will be. This is sure to create a lot of controversy, considering the reputation DMOZ editors have in some circles. We can be sure Google will be expanding the set of favored websites in every imaginable category. This will broaden the scope of human contributors to the pool of favored resources used by the Google search algorithms.

How to Apply What You Have Learned?

After putting this search patent under our microscope, it’s very clear Google needs human eye balls to pick up the pieces where it’s sophisticated ranking algorithm had left of.
You can turn what you have learned to your advantage by taking the following steps:

1. If you’re website is not already listed in DMOZ, now it’s the time to clean up your website, make sure it meets the DMOZ editorial guidelines and submit it to the most appropriate category.
2. The Yahoo directory submission at $300 per year may seem like an expensive option for a single inbound link, but if you care about your website’s long term success you owe it to yourself to consider this option.
3. Discover, and submit to other reputable niche directories in your market segment. When considering submitting to niche directories look for longevity and link reputation.
4. Go local, and sign up for a membership at your local board of trade or business development office. A membership will sure to provide you with a free link from their member directory.
5. Don’t forget to donate to your favorite charity and ask for a link back to your website if possible. Charitable organization websites are a trusted source of links for search engines and a link will surely provide a favorable boost to your ranking results.
6. Don’t be afraid to link out to reputable websites considered to be an authority on your subject. Add a link on your website to the DMOZ and Yahoo directory categories where you already have a link or would like your website to be listed.