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Google has recently filed a patent that details many points that Google uses to rank web pages. The title of the patent is "Information retrieval based on historical data" and it reveals details of algorithms that Google uses in addition to its main ranking algorithms.

In this article, we're trying to find out what this means to your web site and what you have to do to optimize your web pages so that you get high rankings on Google. Click here to read part 1.

Part 2: How your domain name can influence your rankings on Google

The patent specification revealed a lot of information about possible ways Google might use your domain name to determine the ranking of your site.

Google mentions specific types of information relating to how a document is hosted within a computer network that can influence the ranking of a web site. For example, Google tries to determine the legitimacy of a domain name.

According to Google, valuable domains are often paid for several years in advance while doorway or throwaway domains are rarely used for more than a year. To determine the value of a domain, Google records the following information:

• the length of the domain registration (one year <-> several years)
• the address of the web site owner, the admin and the technical contact
• the stability of data and host company
• the number of pages on a web site (web sites must have more than one page)

Google claims that they have a list of known bad contact information, name servers and IP addresses that helps them to find out whether a spammer is running a domain.

In addition, the patent specification claims that Google might check the information of a name server in several ways. For example, good name servers might have a mix of different domain names from different registrars.

Bad name servers might host mainly adult or doorway domains, bulk-domains from a single registrar or domains with many commercial words.

What does this mean to your web site?

First of all, you should make sure that your web page content is optimized for Google. If your web page content is not optimized, all other ranking factors won't help you much.

You might want to register the main domain name for your web site several years in advance to show Google that you are serious about your site. Make sure that your web site is hosted by a reputable hosting company.

If your web site is hosted by a company that mainly hosts the web sites of spammers, it might be difficult to get good rankings for your site.

In upcoming newsletter issues, we'll discuss other important factors that can influence your ranking on Google and that are mentioned in the patent specification.

Google releases Google Q&A

"Just type a query into the search box, and you'll get back the answer at the top of your search results."

Editor's note: Similar features are available from Ask Jeeves, Yahoo and MSN.

"As Q1 came to a close, the prices that advertisers paid to buy search engine keywords increased on average nine percent from March 1-31."

"Google [...] announced a test service for finding local restaurants, stores and other businesses via Web-enabled cell phones and other mobile devices."

Ask Jeeves upgrades its MyJeeves service

"Rather than a one-size-fits-all search engine, users will continue to spend increasing amounts of time building and revisiting their "personal web." With that in mind, we'll continue to bring users the features they want to enable that."

• Ask Jeeves turned 8 years old. Take a look at their old web pages.
• Become.com shopping search engine launches.
• Google chiefs agree to work for $1.
• Use Google Maps to find a new house.
• ICANN officially designates .JOBS and .TRAVEL top level domains.

Pay per click advertising fraud - the inside story

"This is my insider information. It’s what I know from working within the search engine market and talking to employees of other engines over the last (nearly) three years. [...] Google needs to go back to the drawing board because it is obviously not working. Google is no better than anyone else is when it comes to detecting click fraud."

The search engine that could

"Today, Internet searching has become a cornerstone of Yahoo's resurgence from the dot-com slump. [...] American Technology Research analyst Mark Mahaney estimates that Yahoo's search engine advertising revenue of $1.2 billion last year accounted for 58 percent of all ad revenue and 45 percent of the company's total net revenue." (registration reqired)

Jimmy Wales on Wikipedia and Yahoo!

"Today we have a post from Jimmy Wales, president of the Wikimedia Foundation. We asked him to write a few words about our donation to the foundation and our efforts to better integrate Wikipedia content into Yahoo! Search worldwide."

"IBP is worth thousands of dollars, yet costs much less."

"IBP has made Website Promotion as easy as it can be. The suite of tools is impressive even for an advanced website owner such as myself.

Axandra has taken the extra step and made IBP so easy to use that a child could do it. If you have a website and want better search listings, IBP is worth thousands of dollars, yet costs much less. I highly recommend IBP."
Jamie Ratliff, www.affiliate-directory.us

Lower your advertising costs and make more profit

If your AdWords pay per click campaigns don't return a positive return on investment (ROI) or if you're paying too much for your PPC ads, take a look at our new Google AdWords eBook.

Find out how to lower your advertising costs while increasing your profit.

Want to be mentioned in this newsletter?

Just send us some words about your successes with IBP or ARELIS and you might get featured in this newsletter along with your web site address.

We invite you to participate in a public beta test of IBP 8. The new IBP version is twice as powerful as the old IBP 4 version, that's why we called it IBP 8.

This is new:

• Link Popularity Improver
• Web Site Optimization Editor
• Scheduler to automate ranking checks and submissions
• Keyword Editor with special Google AdWords support
• Pay Per Click Search Engine Manager
• enhanced project management: one project for all tools
• you can work on multiple projects at once
• better report customization
• complete new user interface to support the new features
• click here to see a complete list of all improvements

IBP 4 users: The new IBP 8 uses a new project concept, but it will try to import your IBP 4 projects automatically. Your IBP 4 installation will not be touched.

Note that this is a pre-release public beta test designed to help finding problems in the new version before release. Use it only for testing the new version. Test it now!

Get the new version for free!

Of course, the new IBP version will also offer improvements in the Search Engine Submitter, the Ranking Checker and much more.

The next IBP version will be a free update to all current IBP users. It will be released this quarter. If you buy IBP now, you'll get the new version with many more features for free.

• Google ranking secrets revealed - part 1
• Google changes its algorithm again
• How long does it take to get listed in Google?
• Cloaking: Does your web host change your pages?
• Study confirms importance of other search engines
• How to succeed with pay per click ads
• How to get out of Google's sandbox
• View all past issues...