Google publishes guide to Search ranking systems

[robzilla]

This page is a guide to understanding some of our more notable ranking systems. It covers some systems that are part of our core ranking systems, which are the underlying technologies that produce search results in response to queries. It also covers some systems involved with specific ranking needs.

A guide to Google Search ranking systems [developers.google.com]

Announcement: [developers.google.com...]

PageRank still in fashion ;-)

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Haha, well played Google, I see what you did there. You flipped the first paragraph of Matthew 23:4-5 on it's head, lol. That was actually quite brilliant.

Hint, there is an SEO golden nugget in the first paragraph of the announcement page. Some knowledge of idioms required to decypher. It helps if you understand what the last spam update changed, too, or you won't understand why or how to apply the nugget to your site!

I've always cringed a little when Google later says "we changed this and nobody noticed" type stuff but this time.... lol, see if you can figure it out. I'm curious to see if any SEO experts out there catch it.

[aristotle]

... the internet includes huge amounts of spam that, if not dealt with, would prevent us from showing the most helpful and relevant results. We employ a range of spam detection systems, including SpamBrain, to deal with content and behaviors that violate our spam policies. These systems are constantly updated to keep up with the latest ways that the spam threat evolves.

SpamBrain: our most effective solution against spam
We caught 200 times more spam sites in 2021 compared to when we first started nearly two decades ago, thanks, in part, to our AI-based spam-prevention system called SpamBrain.

I had forgotten about SpamBrain. I do remember that another forum (now deceased) once had a "SpamHound" which regularly sniffed out spammy link-dropping posts. :)