May 4,
2005
In
This Issue:
1. Yahoo and the Superunits Patent
2. In the News - Google and Yahoo get more personal
3. More News Headlines
4. This Week's Q&A - Anchor text on inbound links
5. Wrapping It Up
_________________
Yahoo and the Superunits Patent
A month ago we talked about a recent Google patent that covers
a variety of methods to determine how to rank web pages in a search
engine environment. Now it's Yahoo's turn, as they've recently
filed a patent dealing with "search processing using superunits." And
like the Google patent application, this one also offers an interesting
look into one way pages can be ranked in a search engine.
Yahoo's system, as discussed in the patent application, begins
with a "concept network" that gets created by looking
at the words people use when searching. And then by analyzing those
words, you get "units" and "superunits." (Stay
with me here....)
Some real world examples: "kennewick" and "new york
city" are very different search queries, but Yahoo is saying
they're a similar concept. Likewise, "law enforcement" and "police" are
related concepts. If you search for "law enforcement," you'd
probably be interested in sites about "police." In examples
like this, "kennewick" would likely be a "superunit" because
it relates to a lot of different things -- kennewick real estate,
kennewick restaurants, kennewick hotels, kennewick doctors, etc.
Let me try to sum this up in a nutshell: What Yahoo seems to
be wanting to patent is a way to use search queries -- the words
we
use when searching -- to create a network of related concepts,
analyze those related concepts into a hierarchy of importance
(superunits being more important than units), and rank web pages
based on how
they match those concepts and others that are discovered to be
related.
There's a problem with this, though -- and I think it's what
we talked about in the last newsletter. When you search Yahoo
for "richland
wa real estate", the SERPS have as many pages about "richland
wa" as they do about "real estate." In that search
example, I think the "richland wa" superunit is trumping
the "real estate" unit and producing poorer SERPS. That,
at least, is what I see happening. Yahoo hasn't said anything about
this "concept network" even being in use right now, so
I could be totally off-base. But I don't think I am. The same problem
comes up when you search Yahoo for "richland wa doctors", "richland
wa web design", and probably many others. You get more sites
about the city than about the qualifier, and that's a failure in
my opinion.
_________________
In The News
Google and Yahoo get more personal
Google has introduced "My Search History", a new personalization
tool similar to what A9.com does -- it keeps track of every search
you do on Google, as well as which search results you click on.
This information is stored on your personal "My Search History" page,
so you can access it from any computer at any time. You have to
have a Google account (such as Gmail, or Google Groups) and be
logged in to use it. I've always liked this aspect of A9 -- "What
was that web site I found 3 weeks ago?" -- and find myself
using it now on Google, too.
Google: My Search History
Not to be outdone, Yahoo followed up only days later with a beta
version of My Web, a similar service that goes beyond Google's
offering in some ways. Where Google merely saves your search
history with links to what you clicked on, Yahoo's My Web does
that, but
also lets you save the actual web pages themselves, and you
can then do a text search just of your saved pages to find certain
passages or information you need. Just like Google, all of
this
is tied to your Yahoo account.
Yahoo: My Web
You might be wondering ... what if I'm logged in to my Google
or Yahoo account, but don't want them remembering what
I searched for and clicked on? In both cases, turning off these
features
is
a click away.
Business Week on blogging
Business Week magazine recently ran a little series on
corporate blogging that's worth a read if your company
is doing it,
or thinking about doing it. Here are a couple articles
from the
series.
Blogs will change your business
Six tips for corporate bloggers
_________________
More News Headlines
Here are a few news headlines worth your time to read.
These are just some of the headlines we've posted
to OWTweb.com in recent
days.
Microsoft learns to crawl
May 02, 2005 - Seattle Times
Microsoft didn't just miss the boat in search technology. It
missed the dock, the pier and the turnoff to the marina.
Building an opt-in email list
April 25, 2005 - ClickZ.com
Looking to build an e-mail list from scratch? Want better list
growth? A few tips on building an opt-in e-mail list.
Google extends AdWords program
April 25, 2005 - Search Engine Guide
More headlines: http://www.owtweb.com/news/
_________________
This Week's Q&A
Matt,
In the last newsletter you linked to an article about Google's
recent changes, especially regarding inbound links from other
sites. The article talked about how we should avoid having other
sites use the same exact text when linking to us. But I don't
get how we can control what other sites say when they link to
us. What am I missing here?
Carl
Hi Carl --
Yes, you're right -- other sites will link to you randomly and
you have no say in how they do it. What the article we linked
to last time was referring to is when companies start link
campaigns in which they contact other sites to do link trades
or just to
request a one-way link. You may have received emails like this,
where the other person says something like, "If you decide
to link to us, please use this exact text: XYZ Widgets, the best
widgets on earth!" The article was suggesting that too many
inbound with the same exact text like that can be detrimental.
So the lesson is, if you do link campaigns, make sure to include
a variety of suggested link texts so you don't have the same
wording on too many of your inbound links.
Hope that clears it up.
(Have a question? Email questions@owtweb.com)
_________________
Wrapping it Up
Hope your spring is off to a good start and business is treating
you well. See you next week.
Thanks for reading,
Matt McGee
The OWT Newsletter is a weekly service offered free to anyone
interested in learning more about web development, search engine
optimization/marketing, and just about anything else related to
running a business web site. You don't need to be an OWT client
to subscribe to our newsletter!
Subscribing and unsubscribing can be done online at OWTweb.com.
You may share this newsletter with others as long as the newsletter
is shared in its entirety.
Private replies to emails will be written if we have time, but
we don't provide web site critiques or consulting services
for free. You can learn more about our web development and search
engine marketing services online at www.owtweb.com.
|
