What is the Google Algorithm?

What is the Google Algorithm?

An algorithm is a mathematical equation that uses certain information from your website in order to define its rankings. If you're looking for a printout of the specific equation Google uses to rank sites and how much each factor is weighed, this is not the place to get it. The actual algorithm used by Google is a secret, and will stay that way for as long as they can keep it. Although the specifics of the algorithm are not released at all, Google patented the basics of their algorithm, which makes it easily accessible to the public. If you would like to view the patent in all its splendor, simply search in whatever search engine you would like for the phrase "Google Patent."

This is a general overview of the general things this algorithm searches for, written in plain English for the average webmaster. This guide will go over some of the things Google's spiders are looking for, and how to utilize this knowledge in order to boost your rankings on the Google search engine. Keep in mind that while this guide is written specifically for staying on Google's good side in regards to placement in their search engine, the same tactics are definitely portable to the other major search engines such as Yahoo and MSN. Although Google's algorithm is extremely complex compared to those of Yahoo and MSN many of the same strategies still apply.

So, how does it work?

Basically, when a Google spider, or robot, finds your site a number of things are taken into consideration. Not only does this spider search through the content and links on your page, cataloguing keywords, page titles and descriptions, backward links, and meta tags as it goes along, it even looks through your whois information. Whois information is the information provided through your hosting company on who exactly owns the website, including name, telephone number, email address, physical address, how long your site is registered for, and more. To check the whois information on your site, as well as others, visit and type in the URL of the site you are checking information on.

All of these are major factors (yes, including your physical address and name and the duration of your registration on a particular domain name) in the algorithm. Therefore, it is extremely important to optimize every single part of your site, visible or invisible to the common browser.