MediaVision Blog : Search Engine Marketing

Back in the day when PageRank was first introduced, it was based on a Random Walk Model. According to Wikipedia, this RW is a mathematical formalisation of a trajectory that consists of taking successive steps in random directions.

That web surfer’s path and the pages he or she visited most frequently (pages with most inbound links) would be judged as most important, as Google tried to create an algorithm that displayed results that users wanted to see. The problem lies in the model, because web users do not follow a random walk. They do not click on irrelevant links, invisible links or links that are not in the main content area. Web surfers are not robots.

I agree with Patrick when he mentions that treating all links equally isn’t the best way to decide which sites are most important; it’s unlikely that a person reading a blog post is going to click on a link in the footer or in some arbitrary spot on the page. It’s not a haphazard choice; it’s planned with intention.

In response to the problem, Yahoo has proposed a new method of handling this PR. Bill Slawski from SEO by the Sea mentions in a blog post that Yahoo is challenging PageRank assumptions with a new patent. This patent suggests that by examining user behaviour and the links that are most clicked on from different pages, the pages can be given a weight. It also introduces a new concept called a satisfaction score, which analyses the amount of time a user, stays on a certain page before moving on. Pages with a higher weight and satisfaction score are considered as more important.

This click-through data reflects real user behaviour. Links with higher click-throughs would have greater weight, because users click on what really interests them.

Google is too clever and they are getting better and better at modelling actual user experience. It would come as no surprise to consider that Google has already gone down this path or at the very least considered it. Who knows if Yahoo’s new patent will work, as there is no easy fix to the problem.

The key is to try to pre-empt Google’s algorithm changes and ensure that you are always one step ahead, with Google taking up the majority of the market share, especially in the UK, where it’s up to 90%. Constant research and observation goes a long way.