I was wondering if Google is using a category tree (like the DMOZ tree) to decide if two sites are on the same theme (or close)... It makes sense that a link from a site which is closer to another site in that tree should count for more... The DMOZ registration should be perfect for that, because most sites will not have too many DMOZ entries, so their theme should be well defined there. If that is the case, then the best place for a link exchange (other than my own category) would be with categories that are close to the one I am registered under. That is interesing because in my regional categories, the Restaurants category is close to the Humor category (under recreation). I wouldn't have thought that a link from a humor site will do much good for a restaurant, but yet... Any comments?
we don't know how google determines what's relevant. honestly, I don't think that's how they're doing it. two things are likely: 1) whatever they use to analyze a page for adsense and determine theme may also be used for linking... 2) sites that show up in the serps for a specific term may be considered relevant pages to that term
Google has mainly used Google as the seed for relevance, but looks to be getting less and less happy about this. They have anounced trust rank, and have also employed large armies of students to help grade sites for them. It is my guess that trust rank will completely replace DMOZ within two or so years (hopefully less as it is not a good yardstick due to the problems that are there).
It is very hard to figure out what Google is up to. In my opinion if your inbound link is coming from a good PR than it will sure have some level of importance. Related is just not the industry, it could be the same region or a site complimenting your industry. Growonweb
Yes, Google is using DMOZ for its search results. I have read an experiment on this couple of days ago ... if I will find it I will post it here. Toni iLoveSEO.com
yes you're right. but inbound link should be come from same category in which category your site belongs and the pr of the site should be good. it's not necessary that if your site is listed in dmoz then you'll got good ranking.if you created good back link theme related to your site then also you got good listing in search engines.
Google uses clustering technology to create hubs and authorities within those clusters. I suggest you read up on clustering to get a better understanding of how it works. Google uses 2 values to rank (with now approaching 150 elements). 1. importance = page rank Relevance = the rest of the algorithm. A few years back, gogle bought a company caled applied semantics (semantics is The study or science of meaning in language) they have the technology to understand pages, and already use it to deliver targeted adverts via semantic relevance. It stands to reason that they would use this in their main algorithm as well.
OWG, is there anyway you can find out what "theme" Google thinks your site is all about? I'm pretty sure my travel blog, they would put that in to a travel theme, but the other site, which I dont promote on here, this could be classified as a few different themes, dont you think?
Surely one of the easiest ways to see the "relevance" or "cluster" you are in (in Googles eyes) is to use the adsense preview tool ... or shawns keyword tool here... http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/