About Google
Before wandering too deeply into the highly speculative endeavor of analyzing the Google algorithm based off its patent applications -- which, as some credible sources have pointed out, could just be one big PR hoax -- it's worth stepping back and taking a conceptual look at what Google aims to do, and the basic overview of how it goes about doing this.
What Google Wants
Let's start with the obvious: Google aims to bring its users the most relevant search results. The rational is that in doing so, it increases the size and loyalty of its user base, and thus attracts more advertisers for its PPC business and sets the stage for the company to enter a number of other industries with the confidence of knowing that it can market any new offerings to a large, existing user base. So, based on this, one of Google's top priorities is to bring users relevant search results. It's obvious, but with all the information that search marketers need to process, it can easily be forgotten.
Google Relies on Trust to Create a Great Network
The Trust Rank Paper -- a paper drafted by members of the Stanford Computer Science Department (of which the founders of both Yahoo! and Google are alumni) -- discusses how search engines can look to create an algorithm that quantifies how much a web page can be trusted to deliver quality content that is relevant to the search query. While the scientific/technical tactics noted in this paper may or may not be used, it is very clear that Google does attempt to identify how trustworthy a site is. Can a site be trusted to deliver high quality, topically relevant content? The issue of trust is the primary concept fueling Google's search algorithm, and it can help search marketers to think of trust as one of the leading factors that Google is looking to assess when determining the ranking of web pages for a search query.
What Does Google Know?
Obviously, Google can only process information about your site that it has access to. But you may be surprised to find out exactly how much information Google has access to. Consider:
By know you should have a solid conceptual foundation of Google's objectives and its capabilities. Next up, we'll take a look at the patent application, and its potential implications.
What Google Wants
Let's start with the obvious: Google aims to bring its users the most relevant search results. The rational is that in doing so, it increases the size and loyalty of its user base, and thus attracts more advertisers for its PPC business and sets the stage for the company to enter a number of other industries with the confidence of knowing that it can market any new offerings to a large, existing user base. So, based on this, one of Google's top priorities is to bring users relevant search results. It's obvious, but with all the information that search marketers need to process, it can easily be forgotten.
Google Relies on Trust to Create a Great Network
The Trust Rank Paper -- a paper drafted by members of the Stanford Computer Science Department (of which the founders of both Yahoo! and Google are alumni) -- discusses how search engines can look to create an algorithm that quantifies how much a web page can be trusted to deliver quality content that is relevant to the search query. While the scientific/technical tactics noted in this paper may or may not be used, it is very clear that Google does attempt to identify how trustworthy a site is. Can a site be trusted to deliver high quality, topically relevant content? The issue of trust is the primary concept fueling Google's search algorithm, and it can help search marketers to think of trust as one of the leading factors that Google is looking to assess when determining the ranking of web pages for a search query.
What Does Google Know?
Obviously, Google can only process information about your site that it has access to. But you may be surprised to find out exactly how much information Google has access to. Consider:
- Google scours the web to create a virtual map of how web pages are interlinked. So it knows who is linking to whom.
- Google keeps track of changes, so it can tell when your site has changed content.
- Google monitors time, so it can tell when links are added to your site, when they are subtracted, how frequently content changes, how old your site is, and many other pieces of information related to time.
- Google has a toolbar, which is an application users can download that allows them to access some of Google's functionality from their web browser. If you download and install this toolbar -- something millions of people have done -- Google has full access to your computer. This means it can see what web sites you visit; what links you click on; what web sites you bookmark; what files are in your web cache; what cookies are in your computer; and pretty much any information that is stored on your computer.
- Google has a desktop search utility that, upon being downloaded, allows you to search all the files on your computer. This can do all of the aforementioned functionality associated with the toolbar, and possibly more. While probably not as common as the toolbar, it has undoubtedly been downloaded by a sizable number of Internet users.
- Google purchased Urchin, one of the leading web analytics company that allows companies to track the behavior of their users. As a result, Google has access to the click through paths of many of the firms that use Urchin to track their web stats.
- Google has Gmail, a free web-based email application used by millions of people and rapidly becoming the most popular free email service on the web. As a result, Google has access to all the mail Gmail users send and receive. Thus it can search emails to see links that are being transmitted via email.
- Google acquired the Mozilla Foundation, developers of the Firefox web browser -- a web browser used by over 10 million Internet users, and rapidly rising. Presumably this acquisition will give Google inside access to modifying the Firefox web browser, and hence possibly tracking the behavior of everyone who uses Firefox.
By know you should have a solid conceptual foundation of Google's objectives and its capabilities. Next up, we'll take a look at the patent application, and its potential implications.
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