Google relaesed a patent

[Real Estate Forum]

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20050071741&OS=20050071741&RS=20050071741

[jimj]

Has anyone read through it yet?

[VegasMack]

Thanks for the heads up Mike.

Just scanned it.

Should make for some interesting changes in the SERPS.

~VegasMack

[HHI Golf Guy]

Take a look at the original file date - 2003. This is just a minor update.

See if you can find the original 2003 filing and then compare to the update. My guess would be that they are almost identical.

[VegasMack]

I wonder if it has been fully implemented.

~VegasMack

[Real Estate Forum]

NO, not at all. I guarantee you that it will be though. I have been thinking about this for days now and talking about little else to people I have on aim.
Everyone who has been in this business as long as me (5+ years) predicts a major uproar. I am on needles and pins. I would clean up links pages like crazy. Even if you link with people who participate in random linking, you can get hurt. I am starting my blog about all of this since I am getting a lot of information lately. I have to also say one more thing:
Don't always take forum owners' words for the word of the search engines. I have seen a lot of advice me and experts disagree on. Everyone wants to believe that his way of doing things will survive long term.

There is a lot at stake here .. like I said, I am working on my blog and will keep you guys updated as much as I can. Did I mention that Google is my specialty and my passion? :D (what a geek ;) )

I would seriously advice anyone to use common sense and lay low :)

[Las Vegas Real Estate]

Egads...I need someone (um, SiteTutor) to read all that and tell me what it says! We A.D.D. types rely heavily on "geeks" so never understate your value! Looking forward to your blog :o

[frobn]

There is a summary of the patent at:

http://www.agentsonline.net/forum/ultimatebb.php/topic/10/70.html

[Jade456]

Hmm.. there was an uproar about home page link exchanges a while ago too. Nothing ever came of it. I guess the best thing to do is take it with a grain of salt. BUT you can never be too careful.

[Phoenix Realtor]

Hmm.. there was an uproar about home page link exchanges a while ago too. Nothing ever came of it. I guess the best thing to do is take it with a grain of salt. BUT you can never be too careful.

Tell me about it Charles. I deleted all of mine for fear of losing position. The only links on my HP right now are ones that are not reciprocated on the HP of the site I'm linking to. So, I guess you could say I bought into that one.

[jimj]

I deleted my HP links because I noticed that they never showed up in my backlinks and made my site look really spammy. Since dropping the HP links my rankings have not been effected, if anything they are improving. But, I am not in as competative markets as you guys are either. I sure do like the cleaner look though!

[frobn]

I would seriously advice anyone to use common sense and lay low :)

That is the best advice anyone can give. Since the "experts" disagree and it is impossible to check things out in the short term I would proceed cautiously.

I am working on linking strategies for two sites. I have several ideas: Request and take links only from other sites that have a logical plan themselves, even if I don't agree with their plan; 3 way swapping as I believe that links should be a combination of reciprocal and one way; add only 2-3 links per week, and have categories that make sense for the anchor text. Anyone want to add to this or join with me?

[Phoenix Realtor]

Since dropping the HP links my rankings have not been effected, if anything they are improving. But, I am not in as competative markets as you guys are either. I sure do like the cleaner look though!

I should clarify...
When I deleted all HP recips, I was down to #14 or so for my main KWP on Google. Not as a direct result, but in proof that deleting them didn't hurt, I have moved back to #2 where I was for at least nine months for my main KWP. I also added some new pages and altered the text on my HP since deleting those HP recips and waited for about 1.5 months. Then I started moving back, first to #10 which was a great day to be back on the first page, then to #5 for a week or so, then #3 for about two weeks and now #2 for the past five days or so.

[Jade456]

Most of mine are in areas that I get customers from anyway. All of them show up as backlinks (not all at the same time, but thats google for you). Most of them for a little traffic as well. Having 50 home page exchanges doesn't make sense to me, but for some it seems to work well. I've been getting rid of sites that require a home page link if they haven't been giving me traffic or if they are heavily promoting home gain.

[Phoenix Realtor]

Not only will I not link to a site that is promoting HG, but I refuse to chat at a forum that does so either... Charles...

Of course one or two sites that I link with ends up promoting HG and there is simply no way to check them all, so I am sure I am linking to a few somewhere.

[HomeSurfer]

Matt, you made me laugh.

When I was rebuilding the "Where Agents Get Links" page this weekend, I came across several directories that required reciprocal links, but had ads or links to HomeGain. I had to figure out how to list them, and one is actually a pretty savvy site. So they're located in a problem area with sites that run scripts or redirects.

As for home page links, I always think that home page links should be the exception, NOT the rule.

Way back in the day (1998 or so), it made sense to get home page links because search engines were so terrible that the only way to get traffic was through links - unless you were rich and could run banner ads or do media advertising all over the place.

Links were for traffic. Its a different world now, but even so...home page links should still be the exception you make for a site that actually does something for you.

[Phoenix Realtor]

Hey Terry,

Glad to see you here. I wonder who else is here that I know...

[HomeSurfer]

Well, I recognize the green parrot avatar.

[Shimmer]

Has anyone read through it yet?
read what?

[jimj]

read what?
There is a link in the very first post about G's new patent.

[Shimmer]

how can we fond links exchange sites?

[HomeSurfer]

I read through it some time ago. Not the beginning where it was all technical, but later on where it gets to stuff that a reasonably informed web-person can understand.

My opinion is basically that Google intends to install (and in some respects, has already installed) filters that try to discount sites and pages that add links mainly for the purpose of link popularity and search engine optimization. What they are trying to do (in my opinion) is to use those filters so that the links and pages that are left unfiltered are reminiscent of how and why web site owners originally created links circa 1997 or 1998 or so.

So, if you create links and pages designed to benefit your web visitor, you'll probably be alright. If you're creating the links mostly to benefit yourself as a website owner, then you may find that some of the filters effect your site.

There are too many details to go into, but that is what I consider the gist of it.