Search engines are always on the lookout for new ways to improve the value of searches for users. If users are satisfied with a particular search engine, that company cannot retain a sufficient market share over the long haul. Gone are the days where littering web pages with keywords or using a link-centric algorithm would up one’s ranking on the search engines. Today’s online marketer must be much savvier to the newest signals search engines use to ensure clients and users alike get the biggest bang for their technology buck. Recent articles have come up with four new signals that are becoming the most effective ways to improve search quality while thwarting the plans of lurking spammers.

Page Load Time

It is no secret that pages that load faster make for a higher quality search experience for users. Nobody likes to wait around for pages to load in the culture of fast food and instant gratification today. According to Google engineer Matt Cutts, page load time may become a significant ranking factor within the next year.

Clicks

Click data is a significant tool used for ranking in Google News already, according to Jeff Cohen of Google News. This means that Google knows what a normal distribution of clicks should look like and can use this information to evaluate clicks across the board. If techno-experts find that click data works effectively in the Google News environment, it stands to reason that it would help search engines as well.

Web References

A Web reference is defined as a mention of a business that isn’t included as a link on the page. Google’s Local Search results factor in Web references as a ranking factor. In fact, Web references work in a similar manner to links, which would allow search engines to use this information for ranking purposes. Another feature that would stand to gain from this train of thought is nofollowed links, even though some of these links are there for the purpose of identifying resources, without worry about search engine rankings. Still, nofollow links might receive some value in the search engines as well.

Social Media

There has to be some way to capitalize on the raging popularity of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. The best way would be to treat them as a type of Web reference, much like those listed above. These pages are especially interesting because their signals are done in real-time, so a discussion sparked about a current event could give the indication that the topic is a hot story.

Search engines are constantly evolving, as new signals arise to up the value of the search process for users. Marketers and other Web savvy gurus will be wise to heed the current trends so they will be prepared to make the necessary changes that will help them remain competitive. While these signals are still on the horizon, their use may be implemented in the not so distant future. While we may never know what the use of these signals will be, the knowledge that they exist will help prepare us for the next generation of online searching.

Posted on January 16th, 2010 by administrator, filed under News & Updates, SEO News, tagged as with 7 Comments