Thursday, October 9, 2008

My Take On How Google Works

Hi Aron,

As you're probably aware, Google drives a huge
proportion of the search traffic on the internet.

What this means for you is that if you can
understand Google, then if you were to build a
website (as an affiliate), then you'll stand a
much better chance of ranking highly on the
specific search terms that you're targeting (e.g.
"attract men", "attract single men", "conversation
tips for meeting single men", and so on).

In this newsletter, I'm going to provide for
you a no-nonsense, but yet comprehensive guide to
how Google works. If you want to rank highly in
Google, then you'll want to print out, read and
use a highlighter pen while going through this
newsletter.

Now I'm not including Search Engine
Optimization strategy per-se, I'm explaining how
Google works first, then in my next email, I'll
give you a strategy to implement that goes with
this email on How Google Works. Read on...

Google has a comprehensive and highly developed
technology, a straightforward interface and a
wide-ranging array of search tools which enable
the users to easily access a variety of
information online.

Google users can browse the web and find
information in various languages, retrieve maps,
stock quotes and read news, search for a long lost
friend using the phonebook listings available on
Google for all of US cities and basically surf the
3 billion odd web pages on the internet!

Google boasts of having world's largest archive
of Usenet messages, dating all the way back to
1981. Google's technology can be accessed from
any conventional desktop PC as well as from
various wireless platforms such as WAP and i-mode
phones, handheld devices and other such Internet
equipped gadgets.

The web search technology offered by Google is
often the technology of choice of the world's
leading portals and websites. It has also
benefited the advertisers with its unique
advertising program that does not hamper the web
surfing experience of its users but still brings
revenues to the advertisers.

GOOGLE'S WEB SEARCH TECHNOLOGY

When you search for a particular keyword or a
phrase, most of the search engines return a list
of page in order of the number of times the
keyword or phrase appears on the website. Google
web search technology involves the use of its
indigenously designed PageRank Technology and
hypertext-matching analysis which makes several
instantaneous calculations undertaken without any
human intervention. Google's structural design
also expands simultaneously as the internet
expands.

PAGERANK TECHNOLOGY

PageRank technology involves the use of an
equation which comprises of millions of variables
and terms and determines a factual measurement of
the significance of web pages and is calculated by
solving an equation of 500 million variables and
more than 3 billion terms.

Unlike some other search engines, Google does
not calculate links but utilizes the extensive
link structure of the web as an organizational
tool. When the link to a Page, lets say Page B is
clicked from a Page A, then that click is
attributed as a vote towards Page B on behalf of
Page A.

Quintessentially, Google calculates the
importance of a page by the number of such 'votes'
it receives. Not only that, Google also assesses
the importance of the pages that are involved in
the voting process.

Consequently, pages that are themselves ahead
in ranking and are important in that way also help
to make other pages important.

One thing to note here is that Google's
technology does not involve human intervention in
anyway and uses the inherent intelligence of the
internet and its resources to determine the
ranking and importance of any page.

Hypertext-Matching Analysis:

Unlike its conventional counterparts, Google is
a search engine which is hypertext-based. This
means that it analyzes all the content on each web
page and factors in fonts, subdivisions, and the
exact positions of all terms on the page.

Not only that, Google also evaluates the
content of its nearest web pages. This policy of
not disregarding any subject matter pays off in
the end and enables Google to return results that
are closest to user queries.

QUERY HANDLING -THE GOOGLE WAY

Google has a very simple 3-step procedure in
handling a query submitted in its search box.

1. When the query is submitted and the enter
key is pressed, the web server sends the query to
the index servers. Index server is exactly what
its name suggests; it consists of an index much
like the index of a book which displays where is
the particular page containing the queried term is
located in the entire book.

2. After this, the query proceeds to the doc
servers, and these servers actually retrieve the
stored documents. Page descriptions or "snippets"
are then generated to suitably describe each
search result.

3. These results are then returned to the user
in less than a second!

THE GOOGLE DANCE

Approximately once a month, Google update their
index by recalculating the Pageranks of each of
the web pages that they have crawled. The period
during the update is known as the Google dance.

Because of the nature of PageRank, the
calculations need to be performed about 40 times
and, because the index is so large, the
calculations take several days to complete.

During this period, the search results
fluctuate; sometimes minute-by minute. It is
because of these fluctuations that the term,
Google Dance, was coined. The dance usually takes
place sometime during the last third of each
month.

Google has two other servers that can be used
for searching. The search results on them also
change during the monthly update and they are part
of the Google dance.

For the rest of the month, fluctuations
sometimes occur in the search results, but they
should not be confused with the actual dance. They
are due to Google's fresh crawl and to what is
known "Everflux".

Google has two other searchable servers apart
from www.google.com. They are www2.google.com and
www3.google.com. Most of the time, the results on
all 3 servers are the same, but during the dance,
they are different.

For most of the dance, the rankings that can be
seen on www2 and www3 are the new rankings that
will transfer to www when the dance is over. Even
though the calculations are done about 40 times,
the final rankings can be seen from very early on.
This is because, during the first few iterations,
the calculated figures merge to being close to
their final figures.

You can see this with the Pagerank Calculator
by checking the Data box and performing some
calculations. After the first few iterations the
search results on www2 and www3 may still change,
but only slightly.

During the dance, the results from www2 and
www3 will sometimes show on the www server, but
only briefly. Also, new results on www2 and www3
can disappear for short periods. At the end of the
dance, the results on www will match those on www2
and www3.

This Google Dance Tool allows you to check your
rankings on www, www2 and www3 and on all 9
datacenters simultaneously.

How to maximize Google's Search Features?

FIND IT ASAP

The Google Web Directory works in combination
of the Google Search Technology and the Netscape
Open Directory Project which makes it possible to
search the Internet organized by topic.

Google displays the pages in order of the rank
given to it using the PageRank Technology. It not
only searches the titles and descriptions of the
websites, but searches the entire content of sites
within a category, which ultimately delivers a
comprehensive search to the users.

Google also has a fully functional web
directory which categorizes all the searches in
order.

IN CASE YOU ARE FEELING LUCKY

The I'm Feeling Lucky(TM) search button is
recommended when searching for a highest ranked
web page for a particular search. This saves time
in searching for a webpage.

The multi-faceted Google Toolbar

The Google Toolbar(TM) can seamlessly integrate
with a user's web browser and be of quick
assistance.

Pandora's Box

- Google enables its users to search for U.S.
street maps immediately by just typing the street
name in the query box.

- Latest stock quotes are just a click away.
Just type in the company ticker symbol or the name
of one of the stock indices stock and mutual fund
information and Google will return the relevant
information in association with high-profile
financial and trading concerns.

CACHE ME IF YOU CAN

Google takes a snapshot of each page it
examined as it crawls the web and stores or caches
them as a back-up in case the original page is
unavailable.

This cached link always displays the page in
the same manner as it was indexed and this is used
by Google to match the relevancy of the page to
the query submitted by the user.

The "Cached" link will be missing for sites
that have not been indexed, as well as for sites
whose owners have requested Google not to cache
their content.

Google Web Search Features

Google offers a variety of special features
which helps users to find exactly what they are
looking which is all in addition to providing easy
access to more than 3 billion web pages. The
following is an overview of its key features:

- Calculator

Google has a built-in calculator function which
can be used to calculate mathematical expressions
involving basic arithmetic, more complicated math,
units of measure and conversions, physical
constants and even hexadecimal and binary
numbering systems. You can simply enter the
expression you'd like evaluated in the search box
and hit the Enter key or click the Google Search
button.

- Dictionary Definitions

When searching about any particular term, if
the Google database has a definition or meaning
for the term, then it will be highlighted with an
underline on the results page. This definition is
derived in association with a reliable dictionary
source.

- File Types

In addition to HTML files, Google search also
supports 12 other formats such as PDF, Microsoft
Office, PostScript, Corel WordPerfect, Lotus
1-2-3, and others. Additionally, Google also
offers the user the ability to "View as HTML",
which allows users to view these files in case the
corresponding software is not installed on the
user's PC. It also eliminates the hazards of
opening a virus-infected document.

- News Headlines

While searching for a particular term, if that
term is also in any of the current news, it is
displayed as a separate news link on the results
page. This is derived from various news providers
who work in association with Google and who let
Google monitor them.

A new offering - Advanced News Search

A new offering from Google - Advanced News
Search, allows visitors to scour headlines by
date, location, exact phrases or publication.
People can use it retrieve articles from more than
4,500 news outlets publishing on the Web. Advanced
News Search lets visitors search for headlines
using several parameters. Among other features,
people can locate stories that contain an exact
phrase, within the Unites States or abroad, or
written by a specific publisher.

- Similar Pages

The results page also displays a link for
'similar pages' which uses the GoogleScout
technology to explore the web for similar pages.
This is particularly helpful if you have hit upon
a page which has relevant content, but you want
something similar but more.

- Web Page Translation

This feature is particularly helpful if your
search has non-English results. Google offers a
facility to automatically translate a page for you
in English. Currently, Google supports Italian,
French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese languages.

- SafeSearch Filtering

Google provides a SafeSearch option to filter
pornographic contents from its results page. This
is especially useful for shared computers which
need to be protected for children surfing the
Internet. Google's technology tries to check
keywords and phrases, URLs and Open Directory
categories and eliminate these from the search
results.

SUBMITTING YOUR URL TO GOOGLE

Google is primarily a fully-automatic search
engine with no human-intervention involved in the
search process. It utilizes robots known as
'spiders' to crawl the web on a regular basis for
new updates and new websites to be included in the
Google Index.

This robot software follows hyperlinks from
site to site. Google does not require that you
should submit your URL to its database for
inclusion in the index, as it is anyway done
automatically by the 'spiders'. However, manual
submission of URL can be done by going to the
Google website and clicking the related link.

One important thing here is that Google does
not accept payment of any sort for site submission
or improving page rank of your website. Also,
submitting your site through the Google website
does not guarantee listing in the index.

CLOAKING

Sometimes, a webmaster might program the server
in such a way that it returns different content to
Google than it returns to regular users, which is
often done to misrepresent search engine rankings.

This process is referred to as cloaking as it
conceals the actual website and returns distorted
webpages to search engines crawling the site. This
can mislead users about what they'll find when
they click on a search result. Google highly
disapproves of any such practice and might place a
ban on the website which is found guilty of
cloaking.

GOOGLE GUIDELINES

Here are some of the important tips and tricks
that can be employed while dealing with Google.

DO'S

- A website should have crystal clear hierarchy
and links and should preferably be easy to
navigate.

- A site map is required to help the users go
around your site and in case the site map has more
than 100 links, then it is advisable to break it
into several pages to avoid clutter.

- Come up with essential and precise keywords
and make sure that your website features relevant
and informative content.

- The Google crawler will not recognize text
hidden in the images, so when describing important
names, keywords or links; stick with plain text.

- The TITLE and ALT tags should be descriptive
and accurate and the website should have no broken
links or incorrect HTML.

- Dynamic pages (the URL consisting of a '?'
character) should be kept to a minimum as not
every search engine spider is able to crawl them.

- The robots.txt file on your web server should
be current and should not block the Googlebot
crawler. This file tells crawlers which
directories can or cannot be crawled.

DON'TS

- When making a site, do not cheat your users,
i.e. those people who will surf your website. Do
not provide them with irrelevant content or
present them with any fraudulent schemes.

- Avoid tricks or link schemes designed to
increase your site's ranking.

- Do not employ hidden texts or hidden links.

- Google frowns upon websites using cloaking
technique. Hence, it is advisable to avoid that.

- Automated queries should not be sent to
Google.

- Avoid stuffing pages with irrelevant words
and content. Also don't create multiple pages,
subdomains, or domains with significantly
duplicate content.

- Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search
engines or other "cookie cutter" approaches such
as affiliate programs with hardly any original
content.

I hope that you've learnt and gained a lot from
this newsletter on How Google Works.

In the next newsletter we'll look at a great
strategy for getting high search engine rankings.

Regards,

Andrew
SaveMyMarriageToday


SaveMyMarriageToday.com
Level 2
107 Cashel St
Christchurch 8011
NEW ZEALAND

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