ABSTRACT

“Link Analysis has shown great potential in improving the performance
of web search. PageRank and HITS are two of the most
popular algorithms. Most of the existing link analysis algorithms
treat a web page as a single node in the web graph. However, in
most cases, a web page contains multiple semantics and hence the
web page might not be considered as the atomic node. In this
paper, the web page is partitioned into blocks using the visionbased
page segmentation algorithm. By extracting the page-toblock,
block-to-page relationships from link structure and page
layout analysis, we can construct a semantic graph over the
WWW such that each node exactly represents a single semantic
topic. This graph can better describe the semantic structure of the
web. Based on block-level link analysis, we proposed two new
algorithms, Block Level PageRank and Block Level HITS, whose
performances we study extensively using web data.”

Introduction

Many engines use link based algorithms, like PageRank and HITS, to evaluate websites and rank them in the search results pages. Link based algorithms are used because links are seen to convey human endorsement, and because it is assumed that co-citations are related (so a site about dogs would be likely to link to other sites about dogs).

The problem, however, is that in many cases these assumptions are not valid. Many websites, like news sites, link to non-related content, plus they contain many navigational and advertisement links.

These problems are caused because web pages contain multiple semantics, and are broken down into units, some more important than others. So the problem is that if a web page is considered the smallest unit, you have to treat all semantics as having the same level of importance, which is often not the case.

In this paper, the authors propose two link analysis algorithms called Block Level PageRank and Block Level HITS, which treat the semantic blocks as information units. This is accomplished by using the Vision-Based Page Segmentation algorithm to extract page-to-block and block-to-page relationships. These algorithms can improve the relevance of search as it eliminates the problems mentioned above.

Vision Based Page Segmenation

The VIsion-based Page Segmentation (VIPS) algorithm aims to extract the semantic structure of a web page based on its visual presentation. It works by:
1. extracting all the blocks from the html code
2. finding the separators between these blocks
Based on these separators, the semantic tree of the web page is constructed. Thus, a web page can be represented as a set of blocks.

This segmentation allows information such as advertisements, navigation, and decoration to be identified and removed from the quality semantic blocks. Content with different topics can be seen as separate blocks and treated separately.

Block level PageRank

This algorithm is similar to the original PageRank algorithm, but the key difference is that BLPR models web structure in the block level.

The key difference is that web pages that are linked by many advertisement links may not be assigned a high value since the ad links would come from less important blocks, so they would receive fewer points. Thus, ad links would not significantly impact Block Level Page Rank.

Block Level HITS

HITS assigns two values to each page (authority value and hub value). Hubs and authorities thus exhibit a mutually reinforcing relationship, where hubs are identified based on links from authorities, and vice versa.

As has been established, there are always multiple semantic regions in one page. Some hyperlinks such as banners, navigation panels, and advertisements in a page do not convey human endorsement. Thus equally mutually reinforcing all the links in a page might not be suitable.

In BLHITS, the authority hub reinforcing idea is the same as the original HITS. The main difference is that in BLHITS, a page will have only authority score and a block will have only hub score. By assigning hub scores to blocks, it allows authority scores to be modified based on the importance of the blocks of links where they are contained.

In Block-Level HITS, the importance values of different parts of the page are treated differently. Thus, the links in these hubs are treated differently, which can affect the authority-hub reinforcing process.

Conclusion

Based on web page segmentation (VIPS) techniques, web pages are treated as a set of blocks and the links
are from blocks to pages rather than from pages to pages. From the page to block relationship (page layout analysis) and block to page relationship (link analysis), a new page to page graph and block to block graph can be constructed. Based on these new graphs, Block Level PageRank and Block Level HITS algorithms can be implemented.
Experiments show that Block Level PageRank outperforms PageRank and Block Level HITS outperforms HITS.

What this means for SEO’s

These algorithms give the search engines the ability to break up the pages into individual blocks, and to assign different levels of importance to each block. Thus, inbound link scores are modified based on the placement of the links on the page.

Obviously, this has tremendous impact on your link building campaign. It proves that the search engines have the computational strategy and power to identify placement of links on a page, and then give more value to certain links based on where they’re placed.

Additionally, it allows the engines to assign a semantic topic to each block, and to use this when weighing semantic relatedness. So if your link about dogs is placed in a “block” that is about houses, the relevance weight would be diminished, as they are not semantically relevant.

It is simple to infer that the blocks that would receive the most importance are the areas where the actual text of the page is placed, or the main body of the page. This is where the most content can be identified. The first paragraphs would have the most importance, then diminishing in importance, so advertising and navigational units would receive the least importance points.

How this should modify your SEO campaign

1. Your links should be in the main body of the page

2. Your links should NOT be within navigational or advertisement blocks

3. Your links should be in areas that are contextually relevant

4. Make sure people use descriptions with your links (instead of just a few words in anchor text) so that the description makes the block contextually relevant

5. Avoid having your links in footers, or other areas that do not content important content

Remember, links will still count if they are within undesirable areas, but they will receive fewer points and will be considered less important.

To get the most out of your link or ad campaigns, try to make sure you are receiving links from contextually relevant sites, and in prominent placements.

http://www.google.com/relatedlinks/

We have added an example here: AuthorityDomains.com Google Related Links

Google recently launched a new program of “related” links, where you add a javascript code to your site, and they will serve a list of relevant links to other websites.

When webmasters set the links up, they can select whether they want to display related searches, related web pages, or related news stories.

What is the source of this data?

Google doesn’t mention how they compile this information. From a brief look, it loos like they use their standard contextual algorithms to find other related sites and queries. The related sites seem to come from people paying for Google Adwords, although it is tough to confirm as they have to decide what the keywords are (which may not be on the page).

So basically, based on the page where the code is, Google determines a few keyowrds that are relevant, then searches for related sites and related queries.

Is it beneficial to add this code to your site?

We don’t see any real benefit in adding this code, as all it’ll do is give people many ways OUT of your site.

One way in which it is useful, is to see how Google categorizes your site, what kind of keywords it believes your site is about in order to present these as relevant.

Other than that, all it’s doing is giving Google free advertising.

3 Ways to Promote your Site in 2006

Promoting your site is not a “static” business. The web changes and renews itself about every 6 months, with new services, algorithms, and technologies coming out all the time.

For you to “stay on top” or to “get on top” you need to be up-to-date with the industry. It is easy to continue using old-school internet marketing techniques, and then wonder why your site isn’t performing better.

What’s the answer? Bring your internet marketing techniques up-to-date. This may include tuning in to new internet trends, or simply revisiting old concepts with a fresh view.

How? Read below and you will get 3 ideas to add to your internet marketing campaign for 2006.

Media Buys

SEO is still highly reliant on link popularity - for your site to rank you must have relevant, powerful links pointing to it. This is a no-brainer, right? But, the catch-22 is, if you are selling a product or service, how can you naturally gain these links?

If you are an already established brand, if you are a large corporation, or if you have a product that is “newsworthy”, this article is not for you. If you have a small website / product that you are trying to promote, and don’t have all the benefits of a large, branded corporation behind you, read on.

Let’s use the example of traditional advertising. When people want to promote a product “offline” they have to rely on magazine, newspaper, tv ads, and other forms of advertisment, to gain exposure for their site.

The difference on the web is, it’s difficult to identify the best places to buy links. Are the sites penalized? Will they bring you buyers? Will the links improve your rankings?

Knowing where to buy advertising from is very important. Here are some of the things you should consider:

* The site MUST be relevant. This will ensure that you will get buyers from people who see your links. Additionally, Google and Yahoo (and soon MSN) look for links that are relevant to your site and boost your rankings for those. Non-relevant links may even be DETRIMENTAIL to your SEO efforts .

* Where is the site ranking for popular keywords? Look at the meta title of the site, type a few of the words from the title in the major engines - is the site ranking in the top 20? How competitive are those keywords? If it is ranking well for your target keywords, it is a good chance that site has a good reputation in the engines and would be well worth paying for links.

* Will the links be identified as paid ads? If so, they are worthless in terms of boosting your search engine placement. The engines can easily identify these links and will NOT give you credit for them. Make sure your links are not identified as “paid” or “sponsored”.

Buying links from relevant, high ranking sites will have many benefits. Make sure you do it correctly and it will help to bring you customers, both from other sites and from the engines.

Social Bookmarking

As the web has grown and become more commercialized, new tools / services have appeared to allow people to have more participation in their web surfing experience.

Social Bookmarking allows people to “vote” for the sites that they like and keep records of them for themselves and others. This is a form of referrals that doesn’t require meeting people face to face.

For example, if you wish to find an SEO, you may ask your friends who they’ve worked with before, and what their experiences were. Then, you are more likely to go with someone that others recommended instead of someone totally new about whom you don’t know anything.

Social tagging allows you to receive virtual referrals from others, so if you don’t know anyone that’s used an SEO, you can see what other people have picked and who they recommend.

There are many objectives for social bookmarking; we’ve only given you one example of how it may be used.

So to stay on top, you need to learn about how social tagging works and how you can integrate it’s principles into your site promotion campaign. Feel free to read our Social Bookmarking and SEO article for more information on how this works.

Offering unique content

What differentiates you from everyone else? Why should someone buy from you, when they can buy from any other site?

One way is to offer something no one else offers in your industry. Unique content doesn’t just have to be information. For example, you could be offering video tutorials, industry news, or even web tools that your users would find helpful.

If you were looking to buy a video conferencing solution, would you buy from a site that offers little information, nothing unique - a “packaged” standard site? Or would you prefer to buy from a site that has many pages of information about video conferencing, how it’s used, tutorials, benefits of their services..perhaps they even offer a free tool as part of their services?

Unique content will also improve your link popularity. People will be more likely to link to you if you are constantly publishing new articles, or if you are offering a free tool that they can download or link to.

If you do a search in Google for “link popularity tool”, www.marketleap.com is # 1. Why? They offer a free tool that anybody can use - and it automatically links back to their site. This has given them over 30,000 links in Yahoo.

Why not identify a tool or service for your industry that no one else offers? It is KEY for you to offer something unique - regardless of the format.

Why waste more time?

Go to delicious and digg.com to create accounts, start brainstorming a new tool or writing new articles. The more you engage in these techniques, the more visitors your site will have from the search engines and from other sites.