The document summarizes how Google's search algorithm and ranking factors have evolved over time from 1999 to the present. It describes the major ranking factors and changes to the algorithm from the early PageRank days to more recent updates that incorporate social media signals, author authority, and brand strength. The document also discusses Google's recent Panda update which targeted low-quality "content farms" and shallow content sites.

1. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMThe Evolution of Google RankingsHow Google’s algorithm has changed over the years and where it’s heading in the futureRand Fishkin, SEOmoz CEO, March 2011

2. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMAt SEOmoz, we make SOFTWARE!! We don’t offer any consulting.

3. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMRanking in Google: 1999-2002

4. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMOn-Page Optimizationhttp:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.htmlhttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/perfecting-keyword-targeting-on-page-optimization

5. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMPageRankhttp:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.htmlhttp://www.elliance.com/aha/infographics/Google-PageRank-Explained.aspx

6. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMPageRankhttp:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.htmlhttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-science-of-ranking-correlations

7. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMRanking in Google: 2003 - 2005

8. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMAnchor Texthttp:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.htmlhttp://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/anchor-text

9. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMFrom 1999 – 2008, What Page Ranked #1for the Queries “Exit” and “Leave”?http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-kills-bushs-miserable-failure-search-other-google-bombs-10363

10. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMFrom 1999 – 2008, What Page Ranked #1for the Queries “Exit” and “Leave”?http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-kills-bushs-miserable-failure-search-other-google-bombs-10363

11. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMKeyword Match Domain Nameshttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/exact-match-domains-are-far-too-powerful-is-their-time-limited

12. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMRegistration & Historical Informationhttp://www.seobythesea.com/?p=1121

13. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMTopic ModelingLDA correlates w/ Google rankings better than any other on-page featurehttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/content-optimization-revisiting-topic-modeling-lda-our-labs-tool

14. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMRanking in Google: 2006 - 2009

15. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMDomain Authorityhttp:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.htmlhttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/whiteboard-friday-domain-authority-page-authority-metrics

16. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMDiversity of External Link Sourceshttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/10-illustrations-on-search-engines-valuation-of-links

17. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMNofollow, Sitemaps & Webmaster Toolshttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/google-says-yes-you-can-still-sculpt-pagerank-no-you-cant-do-it-with-nofollow

18. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMSearch Quality Ratershttp://www.seobook.com/archives/000915.shtml

19. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMRanking in Google: 2009 - 2011

20. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMTwitter DataDanny Sullivan: If an article is retweeted or referenced much in Twitter, do you count that as a signal outside of finding any non-nofollowed links that may naturally result from it?Google: Yes, we do use it as a signal. It is used as a signal in our organic and news rankings. We also use it to enhance our news universal by marking how many people shared an article http://searchengineland.com/what-social-signals-do-google-bing-really-count-55389

21. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMTwitter DataPage A646 links from 36 root domains2 tweetsPage B1 link from 1 root domain522 tweetshttp:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.htmlhttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-do-tweets-influence-search-rankings-an-experiment-for-a-cause

22. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMTwitter Clearly Influencing GooglePage B – the tweeted version – ranks #1!Page A646 links from 36 root domains2 tweetsPage B1 link from 1 root domain522 tweetshttp:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.htmlhttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-do-tweets-influence-search-rankings-an-experiment-for-a-cause

23. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMTwitter Data is Very Powerful in QDFhttp:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.htmlhttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/tweets-effect-rankings-unexpected-case-study

24. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMDon’t Try Abusing Twitter for SEOhttp:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.htmlhttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/tweets-effect-rankings-unexpected-case-study#jtc133590

25. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMAuthor AuthorityDanny Sullivan: Do you try to calculate the authority of someone who tweets that might be assigned to their Twitter page. Do you try to “know,” if you will, who they are?Bing: Yes. We do calculate the authority of someone who tweets. For known public figures or publishers, we do associate them with who they are. (For example, query for Danny Sullivan)Google: Yes we do compute and use author quality. We don’t know who anyone is in real life :-)http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/what-social-signals-do-google-bing-really-count-55389

26. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMFacebook Likes & Shareshttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/facebook-marketing-ultimate-guide

27. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMBrand SignalsBrandsGenerics Have real people working at a physical address

28. Have authentic, followed social accounts

29. Display obvious, robust contact information

30. Register with government/civic organizations

31. Receive traffic from diverse sources

32. Generate branded search query volume

33. Run offline marketing/advertising campaigns

34. Often exist only online

35. Rarely have significant social accounts

36. Frequently use email forms only

37. Stay “under the radar”

38. Search is often 90%+ of traffic

39. Have little-no branded search demand

40. Ignore the offline worldhttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-next-generation-of-ranking-signals

41. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMEntity Associationhttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-next-generation-of-ranking-signals

42. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMUser & Usage Behaviorhttp://www.quora.com/Did-Bing-intentionally-copy-Googles-search-results

43. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMHow the Search Ranking Factors Have Changed in the Eyes of Experts

44. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMhttp://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors

45. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMNew data will be available on SEOmoz in April, 2011

46. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMBig Changes from 2009 to 2011 Link-Based Factors are no longer 60%+ of the equation!

47. Social Data is perceived to be a significant player

48. Page-Level Link Metrics Fell the Most (43% - 22%)

49. Keyword-Level Domain Metrics, Brand Data + Social Rose

50. The Survey itself asked for more detail/specificity(which may be responsible for some of these shifts)The new version of the ranking factors will be online in April, 2011

51. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMA Look at Google’s “Farmer”(aka “Panda”) Update

52. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMSites that Lost Visibilityhttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/googles-farmer-update-analysis-of-winners-vs-losers

53. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMSites that Gained Visibilityhttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/googles-farmer-update-analysis-of-winners-vs-losers

54. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMFrom the Mouths of GooglersWired.com: How do you recognize a shallow-content site? Singhal: (W)e asked the raters questions like: “Would you be comfortable giving this site your credit card? Would you be comfortable giving medicine prescribed by this site to your kids?”Cutts: (Using) a rigorous set of questions, everything from. “Do you consider this site to be authoritative? Would it be okay if this was in a magazine? Does this site have excessive ads?”Singhal: And based on that, we basically formed some definition of what could be considered low quality. http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/03/the-panda-that-hates-farms/all/1

55. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMFrom the Mouths of GooglersWired.com: But how do you implement that algorithmically?Cutts: I think you look for signals that recreate that same intuition, that same experience that you have as an engineer and that users have. Singhal: You can imagine in a hyperspace a bunch of points, some points are red, some points are green, and in others there’s some mixture. Your job is to find a plane which says that most things on this side of the place are red, and most of the things on that side of the plane are the opposite of red.http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/03/the-panda-that-hates-farms/all/1

56. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMLinks Didn’t Seem to Have Much Impacthttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/googles-farmer-update-analysis-of-winners-vs-losers

57. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMHow Google’s Interface Has Evolved

58. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMOld Google SERPs

59. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMGoogle SERPs Today

60. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMGoogle SERPs Tomorrow

61. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMHow Search Marketers Can Evolve

62. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMDon’t “Look” Like a Content Farmhttp://www.suite101.com/content/canada-awarded-fifa-2015-womens-world-cup-of-soccerfootball-a356303

63. Don’t “Look” Like a Content Farmhttp://hubpages.com/hub/WomensFashionsofthe1920-FlappersandtheJazz-Age

64. Watch Out for “Classic” SEO TacticsDirectory Link BuildingKeyword-Variant AbuseReciprocal Link PagesPaid Links w/ Manipulative Anchor TextSitewide, Footer LinksNavigation for Engines, Not HumansLow Cost/Quality, Outsourced ContentGeneric Design and LayoutAnchor-Text Rich Internal LinksAnonymous Contact FormsKeyword Stuffed Titles + PagesAd Blocks Dominating the PageIt’s great to do good SEO, just don’t look like the only reason the site exists is to draw Google traffic

65. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMBecome a “Brand”BrandsGenerics Have real people working at a physical address

66. Have authentic, followed social accounts

67. Display obvious, robust contact information

68. Register with government/civic organizations

69. Receive traffic from diverse sources

70. Generate branded search query volume

71. Run offline marketing/advertising campaigns

72. Often exist only online

73. Rarely have significant social accounts

74. Frequently use email forms only

75. Stay “under the radar”

76. Search is often 90%+ of traffic

77. Have little-no branded search demand

78. Ignore the offline worldhttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-next-generation-of-ranking-signals

79. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMFind Where Top Brands Earn CitationsWhere do these brands earn their links?http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.htmlhttp://www.opensiteexplorer.org

80. Investigate Brand “Mention” SourcesWWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMFacebook pageBlippr?Crunchbase profileApp profile on BlackberryTwitter accountBusinessWeek ProfileChrome ExtensionMashable Article

81. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMFocus on the User, But Don’t Forget the Engineshttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/business/media/11search.html

82. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMTake Advantage of New Opportunitieshttp://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/05/introducing-rich-snippets.html

83. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMTake Advantage of New Opportunitieshttp://www.9e3k.com/9e3k/monday-meme-yoda-spreads-some-9e3k-love/

84. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMTake Advantage of New Opportunitieshttp://outspokenmedia.com/social-media/quora-hipsters/

85. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMEmbrace All of Inbound MarketingNews/Media/PRSEOEmailResearch/White PapersBlogs + BloggingInfographicsComment MarketingSocial NetworksOnline VideoINBOUND MARKETING!(AKA all the “free” traffic sources)WebinarsForumsDocument SharingSocial BookmarkingWord of MouthPodcastingDirect/Referring LinksType-In TrafficQ+A Sites

86. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMQ+ANaveed Ahmed, CEO Web SEO ChannelsEmail: webseochannels@gmail.comYou can now try SEO Chain Free!http://www.webseochannels.com

87. WWW.WEBSEOCHANNELS.COMSummary of This PresentationThe Evolution and Future of Google’s Rankings: Where Google’s Been in the Past (1999-2010)

88. New Signals in Google: Social Media, User Data & Brand Signals

89. The Evolution of the Search Engine Results Interface

90. What Marketers Must Do to Keep Up with Google’s Evolution