Immediately following spidering, is the real guts of the search engine. This is where Google initially made its greatest innovations. Although, as we will see in later chapters, much of the more recent innovations — say the last 10 years — have been ancillary to the core ranking algorithms. … [Read more...]
Search Engine “Spidering”
Diving into the block diagram from the previous post, here we expose some of the internals of the first block in the diagram. Each of the concepts presented here, you will find described in greater detail in the next chapter. … [Read more...]
the High Level Block Diagram
Every modern search engine will follow the pattern shown here. What makes one engine better than another, and there is a lot of difference, is what is inside each of the boxes. Following this post, each of the blocks will be detailed sufficiently to understand the internal details in the next … [Read more...]
The SEO Lab
This section is TBD. Once available, you'll find here a guide to the different algorithm demonstrations and active learning tools in the SEO Lab. … [Read more...]
A (very) brief history of search
It's easy to take for granted how much searches actually changed over the last 2 to 3 decades. In the short post I'll remind you if you forgotten or inform you if you weren't there. The purpose in doing so used to make clear why some of the advances in search that happened over the years are both … [Read more...]
SEO Deep Dive – Introduction
In the vast majority of SEO trainings, you are told what to do, and in some cases how to do it, but I don't know of any course that tells you why it works the way it does. Do you need to know this to do SEO? No you do not. But my understanding why things work the way they do, you will be inoculated … [Read more...]
My Open Legal Battle With “Google Guy”
I didn’t need Google’s approval of OptiLink. They never were able to detect it, or even materially impact my sales, but banning my affiliates? That’s not okay. I don't recall exactly when it started, but it wasn't more than a month or six weeks after release and started with just the two … [Read more...]
The Launch – and Repercussions – of OptiLink
It’s hard to explain the stress of that time, but as I write this account, I can feel it all over again. I knew that what I had found would revolutionize SEO, but to profit from it, I had to be first! But I had no idea how much time I had.. Was someone a week away from releasing the same … [Read more...]
The One Sentence That Birthed OptiLink
You almost never know how important something is while it's happening. This was one of the most pivotal moments in my life, then and since, but I would not see that until much later. At the time, I was 46, married, one of two children still at home, and doing contracting in addition to various … [Read more...]
OptiLink: The start of an era, now 20 years ago
On May 22, 2002, at 2PM Pacific time, Michael Campbell announced OptiLink to his newsletter subscribers. This was the first of three ground-breaking tools that “put me on the map” in SEO virtually overnight. About time too! I'd been struggling online since 1995. OptiLink changed everything for … [Read more...]