Evolution of links in Google

through the years

24th of July – Jan-Willem Bobbink

@jbobbink - http://ru.majestic.com

Notprovided.eu

Download slides at http://bit.ly/linkevolution

WHO AM I?

In 1998 it all started with:

PageRank

Source at: http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html Presented at Seventh International World-Wide Web Conference

Arguments for use of PageRank

- A numerical weight of every URL

- Is scalable, can be used across WWW

- Relative values are easy to compare and understand

Has been core algorithm for the first years

No more public PageRank data

USE PR TO VISUALIZE INTERNAL LINKS

Aleyda’s post: http://www.stateofdigital.com/visualize-your-sites-internal-linking-structure-with-nodexl/

Majestic build Citation Flow

Next step: Trust Flow

Check video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=148&v=gN0hAU8jkP8

Including Russian Subtitles

Average Citation Flow, low Trust Flow

High TrustFlow, High Citation flow

Those are not the best links

2014: Topical TrustFlow

Summary

- Google started with PageRank

- Using anchortexts to pass context

- Use content to pass even more context

From plain links between URLs to contextual relationships between pages

Humans versus Algorithms

Link spam?!

Remember your neighbours? Yahoo did!

Presentation at: http://www.slideshare.net/ChaToX/using-topology-to-identify-spam-sigir-2007

What did Google do? Launched Penguin 2012

“High-quality sites”

• Comment spam

• Anchor text ratios

• Guest blogging

• Paid links

• Blog networks

How do they measure that?

The Penguin algorithm looks for:

Help Google: Disavow tool

“Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site's ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.”

Unnatural link penalties

Manual actions by Google

• Balance your link building acitivities

• Look to what is acceptable in your niche

• Benchmark against competitors

Humans can be tricked!

It is all about balance

It’s all about benchmarking

Use Bulk Backlink checker to get first impression: https://ru.majestic.com/reports/bulk-backlink-checker

It’s all about thresholds

Machine first / human second

More spammy niche

Cleaner niches

Distribute anchors

Development of link profile

Monitor closely

Negative SEO is possible!

Automate monitoring: http://www.notprovided.eu/how-to-build-a-negative-seo-monitoring-system/

• Understand Google’s possibilities

• Systems are dynamic, not just one rule applies

• Understand your market

• Google is scaring you, more is allowed for algorithms than Google shares

Go get those rankings with links!

Conclusion of today

Next step: Deep Links

Deep linking will be next

W3C SEMANTIC WEB ACTIVITY

“The Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by international standards body the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The standard promotes common data formats on the World Wide Web”

GOAL: EVOLUTION OF THE WEB

LINKED OPEN DATA

STRUCTURE THE WEB?

QUESTIONS?

http://www.notprovided.eu @JBOBBINK

Jan-Willem Bobbink

HTTP://RU.MAJESTIC.COM

PICTURE CREDITS: Neighbours: https://hinterrecords.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/hinter-l-001-cover1.jpg

Robot vs Human: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/business/615%20robot%20reuters%201.jpg

Plan A: http://www.dashinthemiddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Failing-Feature.jpg

Facepalm: http://editorial.opentoexport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/failure-export-marketing.jpg

Internet of Things: http://www.theinternetofthings.eu/innovative-internet-things-examples-iot-examples

THANKS FOR THE PICTURES!