In this session keynote I’ll be covering:
This session keynote is from the optional Google Breakfast session on the 20th of March at the Search Engine Room 2007 conference held in Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia.
Aaron D’Souza (Software Engineer in Search Quality) from Google began the Search Engine Room 2007 conference bright and early at 8am by explaining how the Google index is refreshed and what it is comprised of it, including:
- n – news, blogs, frequently updated content
- f – fresh new content or content updated since last index refresh
- s – static or trustworthy pages
During the presentation Aaron may have speculated that the entire index is refreshed on a monthly basis; the 10th of each month.
As the topic moved onto PageRank Aaron made it quite clear to all not to obsess over the indicated number on Google Toolbar and other tools available, going so far as to mention that we ignore PageRank completely and that the true value is updated publicly only once a quarter.
Instead Aaron noted we should be encouraging linking relationships with related visitor-relevant sites/associations and focusing on the generation of unique, relevant content; be this niche, expert or of a controversial nature.
Of a final note from the topic of PageRank while rubbing a very satisfied stomach was the mention that link anchor text is context-sensitive and should be considered for inclusion in a sites SEO optimisation.
Google’s efforts in reducing spam
Google are taking an authoritative action in notifying webmasters where spam, malware or spyware activities are identified and provide support in removing that content from their server in the case where it is often not of the owners knowledge.
Building your own search engine index
Aaron caused some buzz with the introduction of the Google Co-op project Custom Search Engine and the ability for experts to create a custom search engine that reflects their knowledge and interests; very cool as I’m now considering building a specialised index with colleagues.
