Search Engines
Understanding how search engines work, Google in particular, is important when working in SEO. The basics of crawling and indexing are amazingly useful to understand if you want to rank your own content.
Additionally, Google updates its algorithm several times a year. Understanding the more significant updates, and how they work, can help you to craft content and SEO strategies that are up-to-date.
We've written extensively about how search engines work, and included some of the top resources here. You can also browse the latest posts on search engines from the Moz blog below.
How Search Engines Work : New to SEO? Start with the basics of how search engines operate with our free beginner's guide.
Search Engine Ranking and Visibility : Learn the fundamentals of how search engines rank content on search engine result pages.
Google Algorithm Update History : A complete history of Google algorithm updates since 2000. This includes important links and references for understanding how Google works.
How Search Engines Value Links : Search engines work off a number of signals, but two of the most important are content and links. In this video, Rand Fishkin explains the basics of link evaluation.
MozCast : Is Google updating it's algorithm as we speak? MozCast is the Google algorithm weather report, so you can see how much Google results are changing each day.
Domain Authority - Does it Really Exist as a Ranking Factor?
Rand recently published a post discussing 17 ways a search engine values a link. His number 5 reason referred to Domain Authority and caused a little stir within the comments trail as to what Domain Authority actually meant and where the proof of its existence has been seen. The aim of my first YouMoz post is to provide an example of where ...
Does Google Like It When You're Fresh?
Freshness seems important, but what signals does Google use to determine freshness? Do the spiders pay attention to on-page signals, such as dates in body content or URLs? I thought it might be fun to try and find out.
Google Says: Yes, You Can Still Sculpt PageRank. No You Can't Do It With Nofollow
The blog post - PageRank Sculpting - from the head Google's Web Spam team is a critical read for SEOs worldwide: So what happens when you have a page with “ten PageRank points” and ten outgoing links, and five of those links are nofollowed? Let’s leave...
How to Become a Google Authorized Adwords, Analytics or Website Optimiser Consultant
Google Authorization is a topic which crops up a fair amount in our day-to-day search wanderings. Not really because clients are asking if we're authorized but more because they always claim that previous SEO companies they received pitches from claimed to be Google Authorized SEO consultants. Unfortunately (fortunately?!) no such certification exists so we have to set them straight....
Google (Maybe) Changes How the PageRank Algorithm Handles Nofollow
Today's article from Search Engine Land: Google Loses "Backwards Compatibility" on Paid Link Blocking & PageRank Sculpting is a must read, but it's frustratingly hard to understand Google's position shift on the topics. In this post I'll talk briefly about ...Level Up Your SEO Skills With Our Free Training
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The Google Gods Strike Again...
Usually, I believe Google tries to act logically. Since I began researching SEO back in 2007, all of the theories made sense. So, as I approach new problems, I try to think them through logically and analyze why Google would do such a thing! My latest problem arose in the beginning of April, when I lost some of my major rankings on Google.
How to Choose a URL
Lately more customers are serious about SEO and are wondering if it's a good idea to choose an extra or new URL for their website. And I could not give a clear answer to this because I hear and read different stories on this topic. I decided to do alittle test and hope you guys will share your experiences on this issue with me.
How Google's Rankings Algorithm Has Changed Over Time
Tonight, as I was writing another blog post, I started working on a graphic that probably deserves a post and discussion of its own. Below is my personal opinion of how some of the key factors in Google's ranking system have changed through the years I've been in SEO: ...
Page-Level Algorithmic Penalties On The Rise From Google
Hello, I'm here today to talk about Google penalties. There's much talk and confusion in the SEO industry about penalties. We're always seeing in Q&A questions like: Do I have a penalty? Why do I have a penalty? How can I get rid of my penalty? ...
Google's Sandbox Still Exists: Exemplified by Grader.com
For many in the SEO field, Google's "sandbox," a filter the search quality team created to help fight spam, is a relic of days gone by. However, we've been spotting new cases over the last few years, and I finally found a great example to share publicly (and got permission from the site owner). Grader.com, and the four subdomains underneath it - Twitter.Grader.com, PressRelease.Grader.com, Website.Grader.com & Facebook.Grader.com - are all under pronounced effects that highlight this algorithmic element's impact.