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.
11 Tips for Appearing at Google Definitions
Google has got lots and lots of uses, one of them is to define words, it can be done either by putting "what is keyword", only 1 definition would appear, or by putting "define: keyword". Google defines this function...
The 4 Biggest Threats Google Faces
I had a fascinating breakfast discussion with Jonathan Hochman from Hochman Consultants on Friday about Google's market dominance and the potential roads that might eventually lead to their fall. Naturally, we looked for comparison companies to help inform our thinking. While firms like AT&T and Exxon met their demise from anti-trust laws, Google is l...
Rogue PPC Results from Google
I have to confess from the outset that I'm new to this industry, my background being very much as an offline marketer, so apologies if anyone's come across this already!I was googling some fairly generic PPC terms - 'PPC Management'; 'PPC Agencies'; and so on. I then remembered that I needed to write a document for our sales team, and so I googled 'managi...
The Best from Around the Web on the Microsoft / Yahoo! Deal
Like everyone else in the search industry, I have my $0.02 I'm just dying to give on the MS/Yahoo! deal. First off, I think we need to decide officially whether the new moniker will be Micrahoo! or Yahrosoft. Next, we should probably take a quick walk through the timeline of events so everyone's on the same page. Here's a quick look back: ...
Accusations that Rip-Off Report just an Extortion Business
One of the most interesting stories to catch my eyes in the last few months was this exposé from Chris Bennet at 97th Floor - Google, Your Honeymoon with Rip Off Report Has to Stop. Looking through Chris' detailed research into the practices of the website and perusing so...Level Up Your SEO Skills With Our Free Training
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When Google Comes Up Number One for Your Domain Name
SEOmoz's Q+A section has been a goldmine of eye-opening experiences for the entire staff, and never more so than when we see something so bizarre, so surprising, that it defies explanation. Tonight, we not only got to see one of these fascinating search riddles, we're actually able to share (a rare event as most domains with specific search problems ask to re...
Complaining about Some Google Missteps
I don't generally like to pick on Google, or anyone else in particular for that matter, but since the search giant is hitting on all cylinders, I think they can probably take a little nudge or two. I'm going to keep this short, sweet and to the point (and also very self-centric, because it's tough to effectively analyze everything that might have happened on someone else's site): ...
Training the Random Surfer: Two Important Adjustments to the Early PageRank Model
Many search marketers know about the ‘random surfer’ behind Google's PageRank (the real one, not the green bar also known as Google Toolbar PageRank). In Google’s own words, it’s described like this: PageRank can be thought of as a model of user behavior. We assume there is a "random ...
How PageRank Works & Why the Original PR Formula May be Flawed
INTRO From Rand: Although my grandfather, Si Fishkin, has attended many industry events, provided coverage and helped with premium Q+A as well as some of our consulting work, this is his first post on the SEOmoz blog. Si was in town for the Thanksgiving holiday and generously contributed some time to the blog. Please welcome him!...
Yahoo! Panama - An Interview with Mona Elesseily
It's sad that we don't cover the paid side of search marketing here at SEOmoz with more frequency, but with a little luck and some elbow grease (or, at least, borrowed expertise), I'm trying to dip our toe a bit deeper. Thus, it's with great pleasure that I welcome Mona Elesseily from Page Zero. Mona's a paid search guru, a fellow Northwesterner (albeit a Canadian one) and one of my favori...