Do the Google Dance
I was reading a thread on a forum about Google’s next reindex and how it might be another Florida.
The first thing that hit me was how seriously some people (affiliate marketers, SEOs) take Google. In a matter of a few hours, almost two hundred messages were posted of people analyzing the results of the update. The second thing that hit me was how complex Google really is.
Not understanding some of the terms used in the posts, I did some searching. The Google Dance refers to the process where a new Google index rolls out across the various Google data centres. Here and here, you can see the results of a search across different data centres.
If you’re curious about more methods used to optimise pages, here is a page on SEO tools.
And, finally, some blogs having to do with google
Google Weblog
Research Buzz (a good general one on research, but good google content)
Anyway, what’s the relevance of all this Google stuff? It’s all designed to make the results (SERPs - Search Engine Result Pages) contain useful information instead of affiliate sites and popup traps. So people like you and I can find useful information on the Internet. I also look at it as a race between the google Engineers trying to make a smarter GoogleBot, and people trying to exploit it. It’s a great spectator sport.
Updated: Found some more links on the way Google works.
A paper on Google’s architecture, interesting analysis of the cost to run a distributed environment vs. a centralized one. Also contains information on the flow that happens when someone queries Google.
They’ve also built their own file system on top of Linux.
People take Google so seriously, because reaching higher SERPs usually means more profit.
Heck, even I take it very seriously, and I’m making very little with my site (yet). Imagine the people who do it for a living. They practically depend on Google.
February 1st, 2004 at 1:55 pmYes, previously to this I had mostly seen traffic being generated by either online advertising (ie banners), or in real-world advertising (ie association with a B&M outlet or paper advertising). I had underestimated the importance of search engines to people finding products to buy, rather than simply finding information.
Fascinating stuff, though
February 2nd, 2004 at 10:03 amSean
The good news for bloggers is Google loves blogs. Everything that the Google algorithms dream is built into a blog.
Freshly updated content is a given with blogs, as is an abundance of topic related incoming links.
Scripts for blogs are generally written in search engine friendly codes like html, xml, and CSS. No wonder blogs are found highly placed in the SERPs.
February 3rd, 2004 at 11:05 pmSean’s Obsessions: Do the Google Dance
I was reading a thread on a forum about Google’s next reindex and how it might be another Florida.
The first thing that hit me was how seriously some people (affiliate
February 4th, 2004 at 8:25 pmWayne, you might get a kick out of
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/2/2/171117/8823
While it mostly complains about MT blogs in general, it’s got a paragraph or two about blogs and google. Not that I agree with the article, I just got the comment notification as I was reading the article and thought it’s worth posting
February 4th, 2004 at 8:35 pmSean
It’s funny. It’s almost like Yahoo! Stores. This year a Yahoo! Stores retailer sued Yahoo! because an algorithm change caused their store to lose nearly 120K in Christmas sales.
Wonder when people will sue Google for the same thing?
February 5th, 2004 at 9:25 pmAlready happened in 2002… Search King sued Google when they changed their algo to get around his spamming.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/06/25/google/index_np.html
February 6th, 2004 at 8:47 am