Google Patent Introduction
Recently Matt Cuts opened a can of worms with his opinion about paid links . Although I completely disagree with his opinion that paying for backlinks are bad, I couldn't have helped but to like his latest Google patent application.
Although it seems unfair initially that Google, who is making money from paid links, has this dislike of paid links, the latest patent application makes for some really interesting views. I have been discussing with a couple of my mates in the SEO industry, the possible ways that they would be looking for paid links. One of the first points I thought would make for a possible indication is the constant addition and removal of links on existing pages.
I went through the patent with my punching gloves on and came out thinking that it is actually a pretty good patent. Despite not being able to solve the issue of paid links, it definitely raises the bar when it comes to linking to quality sites. Here is a summary in my opinion on what this patent intends to do.
Time varying factor
Although a very intense description within the patent application it simply means the rate at which links appear and disappear over a period of time. A further point here is the rate at which back links increase or decrease over a period of time. Increasing backlinks over a period of time is good.
Freshness of the document
The freshness of a document is determined by the frequency at which links to the document increases over a period of time. If the frequency at which links are appearing is high it means the document's information is fresh and therefore seen as important. The opposite means the document is growing stale.
Freshness of links
It is clear that they are making use of the history ranking patent in a way to check for the freshness of links by establishing the date at which the link and anchor text first appeared and then the date at which the link or anchor text disappeared or changes was made to it.
Independent peer documents
In short they check for the amount of links from independent peer documents obtained over a period of time. It is in other words, not wise to obtain links from or give links to unrelated documents.
Relevant topics on a document
In short, it is good to obtain links from documents that will be around for some time that is related to the topic discussed on your document. The same goes for linking to a document that is related to the topic discussed on the page you give the link from.
Use of history data
It is clear that the patent will be making use of history data to determine changes with regards to the topic relevance and the changes of links and anchor text on a document.
Summary
As you can see the new patent will raise the bar on quality content. Delivering quality content that will obtain links naturally seems to become more and more important. Adding content and linking to other sites will also become more and more important. Although the patent are worded with freedom on the different factors.
I am concerned about Black hat SEO's utilizing some of these factors to effect SERPS in their favor, however I doubt that Google will be that shallow not to close the door on that opportunity.
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