36 replies to this topic

[piskie]

I did Say "No further info in case it fingers him."

This was off the record and also it is not a particularly Unknown/Unbelieved concept.
I am surprised it was news to you Jill.

I hope one day to be fortunate enough to have a similar conversation with this guy.
What effect do you think Emailing him about an Off the Record Q&A session would be on next time.

[jtaylor123]

I've heard of themes before, but have not seen a lot of info about it. I found one old article about it.

I'm afraid to post it though because it might be junk....

[Jill]

I am surprised it was news to you Jill.

Not news. Simply another SEO myth. And one I don't buy for a second. Especially since you only apparently heard it somewhere that can't be documented or checked on.

Anyone can say some google VP told them something, but if that's the best you got...it means zero and is simply yet another in a long string of myths that have no basis in fact.

[piskie]

Somebody just posted a Link here to an interesting article on Google and Theming.

Where's it gone ??

[Michael Martinez]

If theming really worked, I'd have been pigeon-holed by Yahoo! years ago.

Edited by Michael Martinez, 29 December 2006 - 04:37 PM.

[Jill]

Somebody just posted a Link here to an interesting article on Google and Theming.

Where's it gone ??

Didn't see it.

[kevs]

"SEO presents an interesting branding issue. Since anchor text on interior pages pointing to the home page can help you rank, it would make sense to call your company something like "Acme Red Lederhosen" if you want to rank for Red Lederhosen. You can then place a logo or text on every page with your company name and link it back to the home page. (For logos, you need to use the ALT attribute to make this work.)
"

that's interesting. I wonder if the link from my inner pages to my home page have same efffect or bang, that external links linking to my homepage have.

[piskie]

Found it, I hope posting a live link is OK, here it is: Article on Google and Theming: www.webworkshop.net/google_themes.html

[Janet21]

Found it, I hope posting a live link is OK, here it is: Article on Google and Theming: www.webworkshop.net/google_themes.html

I read the article and it does appear to make sense, however, I am definately not an expert here. I am familiar with the author of this particular article from another forum and I hold his opinions in high regard. But, as Jill stated, it is something that is would be very hard to prove.

[Jill]

if that one is your guru...good luck to you.

[Janet21]

if that one is your guru...good luck to you.

Are you directing your laughter at me?

[Jill]

Nope.

[Janet21]

Nope.

Oh, okay, I guess I just got in the middle of something here. Carry on.......

[Michael Martinez]

I read the article and it does appear to make sense, however, I am definately not an expert here. I am familiar with the author of this particular article from another forum and I hold his opinions in high regard. But, as Jill stated, it is something that is would be very hard to prove.

There are those among us who do not hold his opinions in high regard. In past discussions and throughout much (if not all) of his Web content, he has consistently demonstrated a poor grasp of facts and his conclusions just don't stand up.

The particular article which was quoted and cited in this discussion was about as sound and reasonable as a Donald Duck comic would be at a Mathematics conference (apologies to the Disney Company). Content has nothing to do with PageRank, and all of his attempts to explain PageRank have failed miserably to approach the truth.

[piskie]

Sorry for posting a live link, that's me not reading the TOS.

However it was a link previously posted in this thread that quickly disappeared.
That was the first time I had seen the Page or the site.
No promotion intended.

The following is my opinion and I would prefer not to enter into a provenance debate over origin etc.
No firm evidence, but some circumstantial pointers and some intuition involved in the recipe.

Regards Theming.
Google acquired a company (a couple of years ago I think) that had developed a Unique (and patented) algorithm for theming internet content. This algorithm expanded the meaning of content to categorise websites using a controlled database of word meanings, roots and groupings. It therefore is able to place a page describing a Dining Table into the same themed category as a Chair. Thus a Site containing such pages may be themed as "Furniture".

I have read this Patent and can see it's possible/probable uses within the Search Industry.

Once a site is categorised as dealing with a "Theme" or "Themes", it is a simple progression to tinker with the weights of a single or small number of pages within the site that are OFF theme. It would be a similar easy progression to apply a tweak to links between sites that are not within the same theme or "Related Themes".

I believe The primary intention was to maximise the effectiveness of Adsense and consequently it's revenue generation. However the technique can also be applied to organic search results Algos and PR.

You can (if you think about it without blinkers on) see that this technology is "likely" to be used to evaluate the applied value of links between sites. Google got itself in a mucking fuddle with blind implementation of link popularity and spawned link farms, link exchanges etc. By applying theming to evaluate the worth of a link, much of the early PR manipulation has been eliminated.

There were embarrassing examples of Number One Positions achieved by pages with no content whatsoever and even the HTML Title Tag being meaningless. This was achieved by worldwide collaboration accumulating thousands of links from any webmaster who wanted to prove a point. Since theming was employed to evaluate the worth of a link, this has not been possible.

It is my belief that Theming is a major factor in Googles Algo right now and will be more so in the future.
Other SEs are playing catch-up, but Google has a big lead due to it's Acquisition policy.