Stressed Words in spoken queries
This may not be something you can optimize a page for, but it does show that Google is paying attention to voice search and where that might take us. In the post Google and Spoken Queries: Understanding Stressed Pronouns based upon the patent Resolving pronoun ambiguity in voice queries, we see that Google may be listening for our voices to emphasize certain words when we ask for something. Here is an example from the patent:
A voice query asks: “Who was Alexander Graham Bell’s father?”
The answer: “Alexander Melville Bell”
A followup voice query: “What is HIS birthday?”
The answer to the follow-up query: “Alexander Melville Bell’s birthday is 3/1/1819”
Action Items: If you are interested in voice search at Google, you should read a case study they published in 2010: Google Search by Voice: A case study It is about some of the technological issues that Google faced when setting up voice search. It also discusses some of the metrics that Google uses to determine the quality of their voice search. Language modeling and location impact on those language models makes a difference, too.
News Search Ranking Signals
Originality in News Search
Google has a few patents that focus specifically on ranking signals for news results. They have updated some of those patents with continuation patents that have rewritten claims in them. I came across one that used to once focus upon geography as a very important signal but appears to pay much more attention to originality now. I wrote about that change in the post Originality Replaces Geography as Ranking Signal in Google News
The updated patent is Methods and apparatus for ranking documents
Action Items: The patent says “originality” but tells us that freshness and recency are also important. It looks like being the first to get a scoop on a topic, and having the most original takes on that story still has a lot of value in news results. That probably wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone covering the news. Making sure that translates well to the written word is important.
Additional Ranking Signals
Global and Local Scores, Relevance, and Reliability
Part of this approach is one that reminded me of Topic Sensitive PageRank. Some of it is based upon a global ranking for a site, and onsite rankings for pages of a site. Different types of relevance may matter under this approach including Topical Relevance to other sites, Authoritative Relevance to other sites, and Off-site factors that indicate authority on site. Reliabilty is also a concern as well. This does appear to be an alternative to PageRank that is worth considering as a ranking signal.
I wrote about this in a post titled A Replacement for PageRank?, and it is based upon the patent Onsite and offsite search ranking results.
Action ItemsCarefully consider the themes presented in the site, and how much of the site covers each of those. Work to improve relevance and authority, and reliability of all parts of a site.
