In a patent filed by Yahoo a few years back, (and excellently uncovered and covered by Bill Slawski) signals for success include site engagement metrics and a recognition of user interaction as a key metric to measuring satisfaction.
Update/Correction: Bill Slawski of SEO by the Sea has pointed out to us that the ComputerWorld article is actually based on Google News ranking signals from 2003. As Slawski's "The Traditional News Agency is Dead (On Google News)" points out:
Bill Slawski wrote an excellent post on a patent for a method of detecting commercial queries, secured by Google in October 2011. Slawski points out that a sentence near the end of the patent application opens the process up for uses on other...
Note: there have been some updates to the original PageRank patent, which Bill Slawski covers in detail here. The theory behind PageRank became part of the basis of the Google algorithm, and continues to be so today.
From patent analysis to viewing "what may be", Bill Slawski does a bang-up job of summarizing the areas many of us get glassy-eyed thinking about. FREE – Search Status: Gives access to PageRank on the fly but also, with the click of a button gives...
According to a blog post by Bill Slawski at SEO By the Sea that references US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) filings, IBM has agreed to give Google 188 granted patents and another 29 pending patent applications.
Bill Slawski found a patent granted last week that explores a few different ways Google might use human raters to evaluate which algorithmic changes might produce the best results. Last month, we wrote about how Google’s human search quality raters...
And everyone's favorite (search) patent uber-geek Bill Slawski also found this one: Document Scoring Based on Document Content Update. Originally there was a single patent. Today we'll look at some of the past geekiness (a.k.a.patents and such...
The description doesn’t quite match up 100%, but most patent descriptions are illustrative examples, and the claims sections are the important parts,” wrote Bill Slawski. The patent claims from the first batch of patents appear to be pretty good...
Bill Slawski has also analyzed the Microsoft Patent for Image Rankings (thanks to @mongoosemetrics for sharing this oldie-but-goodie hyperlink). Google has unveiled a Sort by Subject feature for Image Search that allows users to sort photos more...
Patrick Altoft and Bill Slawski have both previously written about a Google patent application showing how a search engine can identify inadequate search content based on statistics associated with search queries and then share this information...
Bill Slawski from SEO By The Sea explains that a ranking method based on mouse pointer movements would solve the click-through rate (CTR) classification riddle: users effectively do not necessarily need to click on a link to find the information...
Bill Slawski reports on a new Google patent that manipulates search results based on query patterns and click results. The patent is just making sure the method is theirs. As Bill explains Google can track when people search for a few related terms...
Yahoo Patent App Sheds Light on SEO Priorities Posted by Kevin Newcomb Feb 4, 2009 A recent patent application from Yahoo highlights several factors that Yahoo itself proposes to use for optimizing Web pages for its search engine, according to the...
Reciprocal Links And Yahoo: Some Interesting Reading Posted by Frank Watson Jan 14, 2009 Okay I would not have bothered to read Yahoo's latest patent on reciprocal links if it were not for two blog posts by Bill Slawski and David Harry.
Yahoo Registers Meal Search Patent Posted by Frank Watson Jun 28, 2008 Bill Slawski, of SEO by The Sea, has uncovered another patent filing. This time Yahoo is applying for a patent for meal search technology.
Bill Slawski, of SEO by The Sea, has uncovered another patent filing. This time Yahoo is applying for a patent for meal search technology. Bill's article gives a much better interpretation than I ever could and should be read.
Slawski concludes that if you develop your own sites, then looking in-depth at the patent may be worth your while: Bill Slawski is reporting that Yahoo is joining the ranks of MSN and Google in an attempt to incorporate page layout into its web...
Bill Slawski Uncovers Possible Barter System Patent At MicrosoftMicrosoft has applied for a bunch of patents covering click fraud, and what could be the groundwork for a barter system between publishers and advertisers.
Bill Slawski Uncovers Patent Info About Google Quality Scoring"A trio of patent applications from Google look at estimating the likelihood that an advertisement is a good one, in a method that goes beyond counting click-through-rates (CTR...
