Google Search Engine
Google Algorithms and the Florida Update |
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February 1, 2004
Google Search
and The Florida Update...
On November 16th, 2003, the ever popular search
engine, Google Search, commenced what came to be known as the infamous
Florida Update. This update had a disastrous effect on a large number
of websites and, at the same time, turned the search engine ranking
and optimization industry upside down.
Before the Florida Update, many of the websites listed in the Google
Search index had ranked at or near the top of the search engine
results page (SERPs) for a very long time. But by the time the Florida
Update had swept through Google Search databank like a tidal wave,
many of these top positioned websites either dropped to a very low
placement on the SERP's, down passed the 900th position, or had
disappeared from the Google Search index all together.
To make matters worse, the relevancy and quality of the WebPages
bought up on the Google Search SERP's had been greatly diminished.
Instead of Google's usual relevant and qualitative results, searchers
were left with pages that were completely off topic, or their relevancy
was questionable.
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Theories on Google Search and the Florida
Update
After the Florida Update commenced, various search engine related
communities around the web went into overdrive trying to figure
out what changes in the Google Search algoriths had caused such
a catastrophe. Up to this point, we are unsure of exactly what had
been changed, but we have struck out a few of the theories as more
and more information becomes clear to us.
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Filter
One of the first theories put forward was the SEO Filter theory.
What this meant is that Google Search had implemented a filter that,
when a search query is made and a set of pages that matched the
query recieved, new Google Search algoriths applied an SEO filter
to each of the results. Any pages that were found to exceed the
number of 'allowable' SEO applications, are dropped from the SERP.
It made perfect sense for a search engine to filter out 'over-optimized'
pages, but with further examination of the SERPs, it was found that
many of the websites that being placed in the top 10 rankings were
themselves 'over-optimized' for the search terms they were ranked
for. Obviously, if an SEO filter was in affect, those pages should
not have been reecieving the placement they were getting. Also,
many websites that had not been optimized in anyway had been dropped
from the Google Search SERPs as well.
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Google Search and Local Rank
Another theory brought forth was that Google Search had implemented
Local Rank algorithms. Local Rank is a method of modifying the rankings
based on the interconnectivity between the pages that have been
selected to be ranked.
Google Search did take out a patent on LocalRank, but this theory
cannot be true. Study of LocalRank shows that the technique does
not drop pages from the results, as the Florida algorithm does.
LocalRank merely rearranges them.
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The Google Search alleged Commercial List
When a Google search query was made, it was observed that many
of the results were biased towards information pages, and commercial
pages were either dropped from the query or moved down in rankings.
From this observation, a new theory was developed that claimed Google
Search was maintaining a list of so called 'money-words', and modifying
the rankings of searches that are done for those words. This means
that informational pages were displayed near the top, in place of
commercial ones.
Google itself is a large company, and all large companies are built
on the basis of making money. Google makes money by selling advertising
for other companies, and these ads are placed on the SERPs. Every
time a person clicks on one of the ads, Google gets paid by the
advertiser. In some markets, the cost per click (CPC) can be very
costly, and the idea of dropping pages from the results, or lowering
their rankings, when a 'money-word' is searched is to force commercial
sites into using paid advertising, thus putting up the cost of each
click and allowing Google to make a lot more money.
Google has flately denied any such intended purpose or motive,
and such manipulative tactics would be very risky indeed for a company
of Google's stature within the industry.
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What the Florida Update really did
The previous theories, as well as others that have since been put
forth, make sense, but none of really seem to fit.
The SEO Filter theory is flawed because to date there are still
optimized pages ranking in the top 10 on the Google SERPs, as well
as not optimized pages disappearing altogether from the SERPs.
The LocalRank theory isn't even a possibility when you see that
LocalRank does not drop pages, but just rearranges them.
As for the Commercial List theory, if it was ever noticed that
they were doing this, Google would run the risk of losing a lot
of business and going into a quick decline.
The most fundamental change that Google made with the Florida Update
is that they now compile the results set for the new results in
a different way than they did before, and this is what all the previous
theories failed to notice. So how does Google Search compile the
new results set?
In 1999, Krishna Bharat developed a system for determining the
rankings of pages. He called his search engine 'Hilltop'. At this
time, the address for the Hilltop search engine was the same as
Google's address now, and many people have wondered if Google would
implement the Hilltop System.
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Google Search and the Hilltop Algorithm
Google's Hilltop algorithm uses an 'expert' system to rank pages.
It compiles an index of expert web pages (pages that contain multiple
links to other pages on the web of the same subject matter). The
pages that end up in the rankings are those that the expert pages
link to.
The expert system cannot create a set of results for all search
queries; it can only create a set for queries of a more general
nature. When you compare the Hilltop Expert System with the effects
of the Florida Update, you would see that every effect from the
Florida Update can be attributes to a Hilltop like 'Expert' based
system.
For a more indepth read on Hilltop, go to "Analysis
and Implications
of Hilltop Algorithm: How will it affect your site ranking?"
Many search results that once contained useful commercial sites,
now contain much more in the way of informational or authority pages.
This is due to the fact that expert pages would have a considerable
tendency to point to informational pages. As mentioned earlier,
the expert system can't create a set of results for all search queries.
When it fails to produce a set of results, Google's normal mechanisms
step in and do it instead.
It has been noticed that a great number of homepages have vanished
from the SERPs, and this could be explained by saying that expert
pages are much more likely to point to the inner pages that contain
the information, rather than to the actual homepage itself.
Every effect that we see in the SERPs could be attributed to an
expert based system like Hilltop. Now keep in mind, it cannot be
said that this IS what the Florida update has done, but it is the
most believable theory to this point.
It can be said, however, that the method Google is using for searching
through websites has changed in some way or another.
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The Next Step
for Google Search
At the present time, Google Search is in a state of disrepair,
despite what their representatives have been saying. If left as
is, Google Search will most likely see a decline in the number of
users, and risk becoming a small search engine as other top engines
have done.
There has been a return to the SERPS of some of the websites that
were dropped, so it can be seen that Google is still trying to fix
some of the effects that have taken place. If Google is able to
get their results to their satisfaction, the new changes will stay
and a new method of how to optimize for Google Search will need
to be made.
If Google is really running an 'expert' like system, then the first
thing to be noticed is that the system cannot deal with all search
terms. So targeting non-generalized and less competitive search
terms, using the usual SEO basics, will still work.
For more generalized, competitive search terms, the page needs
to be linked to by multiple unaffiliated expert pages; unaffiliated
meaning that they reside on servers with different IP C block addresses,
and their URLs not use the same domain name.
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Conclusion
Although many theories about the Florida Update have surfaced,
nothing has yet to be proven. Since the Florida update, many websites
that had been 'lost' from the Google Search Engine SERPs have returned,
and in many cases, are back at or close to the rankings they had
before the update occurred. In other cases they are highly ranked,
but significantly lower than before.
Google has also recognized the fact that the Florida Update caused
a sharp decline in the quality and relevancy of the search results,
and is currently adjusting the algorithm's parameters while trying
to find a balance between the new page selection process and good
relevancy.
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By Auliya Andreassen
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