WEBVTT - Why is the Google Algorithm So Important?

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<v Speaker 1>Get in touch with technology with tech stuff from how

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<v Speaker 1>stuff Works dot com. Hi, and welcome to the podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>My name is Chris Pelette. I'm an editor here at

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com and with me I have

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<v Speaker 1>writer Jonathan Stricklines. Hey there, um, and our question of

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<v Speaker 1>today why is the Google algorithm so important? And I'll

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<v Speaker 1>tell you all right, but first I guess we we

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<v Speaker 1>just in case you don't know, we should tell you

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<v Speaker 1>one algorithm is I know, I know, I had to

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<v Speaker 1>look it up, Chris, Um. You know, it's it's one

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<v Speaker 1>of those things. It's one of those words that you

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<v Speaker 1>sort of know what it means. I know, it's a

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<v Speaker 1>mathematical something or other that makes something happened in a

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<v Speaker 1>certain way. And uh, okay, so I looked it up.

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<v Speaker 1>I admit I looked it up, and it says that

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<v Speaker 1>when I looked at Webster's that basically an algorithm is

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<v Speaker 1>a pattern for doing this. So this is the pattern

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<v Speaker 1>that Google is using to rank search results on It's

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<v Speaker 1>on its page, right. Yes, this is a set of instructions,

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<v Speaker 1>in this case, a computer algorithm, a set of instructions

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<v Speaker 1>that tells the computer exactly how to bring back search

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<v Speaker 1>engine results pages Those are also known as serups in

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<v Speaker 1>the s EO BIZ and that would be Search engine

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<v Speaker 1>optimization UM, an acronym and exciting topic guess the world

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<v Speaker 1>of acronyms. According to Search Engines UH, with the Google algorithm, basically,

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<v Speaker 1>what they're doing is they're trying to make sure that

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<v Speaker 1>users who are using the Google Search engine are getting

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<v Speaker 1>the best results for any particular search terms they're putting in.

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<v Speaker 1>So any time you go to Google and you insert

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<v Speaker 1>a certain keyword or phrase UM, ideally the first few

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<v Speaker 1>results that pop up should be the ones that are

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<v Speaker 1>most pertinent to your search, and you shouldn't have to

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<v Speaker 1>dig deeper and deeper in. Now that's kind of important

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<v Speaker 1>because there's over a hundred and fifty million active web

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<v Speaker 1>pages on the Internet, so you don't want to have

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<v Speaker 1>to search through all of those manually, you know. I

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<v Speaker 1>think it's fascinating that you know, in reading your article

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<v Speaker 1>that Google has been able to weed out, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>tricks that might try that people might try to push

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<v Speaker 1>the site up on the page. Like, for example, if

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<v Speaker 1>we wanted you to read why is the Google algorithm

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<v Speaker 1>so important? Why we don't you know, type into the

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<v Speaker 1>web page somewhere Google algorithm, Google algorithm, Google algorithm fifty times.

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<v Speaker 1>That's actually gonna push it down the page. And uh,

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<v Speaker 1>and you know it's it's interesting to note that it's

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<v Speaker 1>it's dependent on who links to you to your page

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<v Speaker 1>and how old your site is. So these are all

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<v Speaker 1>in the instruction set, right, Yes, this algorithm includes all

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<v Speaker 1>of these factors. Um. In the past, search engines would

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<v Speaker 1>mainly look for certain keywords in a page, which maybe

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<v Speaker 1>you've come across a web page where at the very

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<v Speaker 1>very bottom, if you scroll all the way down, you

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<v Speaker 1>see this block of text and it's just random words

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<v Speaker 1>all thrown together. That's just to get search engine hits

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<v Speaker 1>for any of these terms. So it's pretty much any

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<v Speaker 1>word that webmaster could think of, right well, that that

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't guarantee a good search results experience. So yes, Google

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<v Speaker 1>guards against that. They really look at the content of

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<v Speaker 1>the site. Um. And as you say, they look at

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<v Speaker 1>the links that are coming. That are the websites that

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<v Speaker 1>are linking to the website in question. Um. So the

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<v Speaker 1>more websites that linked to that that particular page, the

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<v Speaker 1>higher that page will rank in Google search results. And interestingly,

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<v Speaker 1>if those those sites that are linking to the page

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<v Speaker 1>are themselves very important pages. Then that also boosts the

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<v Speaker 1>particular web pages ranking and Google. Um, that's where the

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<v Speaker 1>mystery comes in. We know that that the algorithm uh

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<v Speaker 1>does these things. We just don't know how much Google

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<v Speaker 1>waits one criterion against another. Uh. We had some readers

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<v Speaker 1>ask us about this. They said, well, if if the

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<v Speaker 1>Google algorithm is patented, how can it be a secret. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>the patent tells us that Google ranks pages based upon

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<v Speaker 1>these links, but it doesn't tell us how they determine

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<v Speaker 1>which links are more important than others, not not specifically.

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<v Speaker 1>So that's where the mystery comes in. That you know,

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<v Speaker 1>that's just amazing that they're they're able to do that,

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<v Speaker 1>and then they can tweak it on the fly. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>because you were telling me about an article that you

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<v Speaker 1>had seen, right, Yes, there's an article in a popular mechanics.

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<v Speaker 1>They interviewed a Google executive and he admitted that in

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand seven, Google tweaked their algorithm four hundred fifty times.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, that's it's amazing to know that they could

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<v Speaker 1>do that. I know I've used the word amazing a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of times, amazing number of times to Google it.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm sure it would come right up, probably would accept.

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<v Speaker 1>I've used it so many times you would push it right.

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<v Speaker 1>It's true. Um, but yeah, it's it's um. Just fascinating

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<v Speaker 1>that they're able to change it that frequently. Uh. Still

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<v Speaker 1>and still, you know, receive a normal amount of traffic

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<v Speaker 1>and handle the load without any problems and still remain

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<v Speaker 1>the trusted search source simply because you know the way

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<v Speaker 1>that they're they're processing this information from all the people.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, I would say that that's why they're such

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<v Speaker 1>a trusted search source. It's because they're constantly tweaking to

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<v Speaker 1>make sure you get the best search results for any

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<v Speaker 1>particular search. Well. To read more about that, you can

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<v Speaker 1>visit why is the Google Algorithms So Important? Which is

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<v Speaker 1>up today at how stuff works dot com. Thanks for

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<v Speaker 1>more on this and thousands of other topics because that

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. Let us know what you think.

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<v Speaker 1>Send an email to podcast set how stuff works dot

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