Hilltop Explained
Becoming an Expert Site
It's not what you know, it's who you know. You've, no doubt, heard that old saw many times before and now, thanks to the new, Hilltop search engine algorithm, truer words have never been spoken. Your web site is no longer evaluated (judged, ranked) primarily on what content it contains. The new Hilltop algo is much more concerned with who links to your site. Links to and from your site - connectivity - has become a more heavily weighted variable in the Hilltop algo and, those in the know have demonstrated that Google has adapted at least parts of the Hilltop model, though, the company maintains its usual stony silent on the search parameters it uses.
In the past, PR has been the primary determiner of a site's rank based on the old Google algo. PR was weighted heavily toward keyword density and placement in a site's anchor text and, as such, SEO text was the hot commodity. However, as many webmasters and tracking sites revealed, the reliance on keywords to determine a site's ranking could easily be manipulated, thus diminishing the quality of Google's search results. All the unscrupulous (or innovative, depending on your POV) webmaster had to do was load up his or her site with SEO text to increase his PR.
Then, along comes Hilltop - a search engine with a different take on user's queries. Developed by Krishna Bharat from the Compaq Systems Research Center, Hilltop lessens its algorithmic emphasis on keywords and, instead, looks for the most authoritative sites and places them at the top of the rankings. Authoritative, you ask? Well, how can a search engine determine the authority of a particular site? Simple: just as you can judge a man by the company he keeps, you can judge a website by the company it keeps.
The Hilltop algo, which most experts agree, has been incorporated into Google's SE, still performs a keyword search on broad queries, but places more emphasis on links to and from your site based on the assumption that quality links indicate the quality or authority of a particular site - a reasonable assumption. So far, so good.
In the past, the major SEs - Alta Vista, Yahoo, DirectHit, et al - have relied on universal searches of web content to deliver a list of ranked sites to the user. In most cases, this involved a scan of over 140 million pages of web text. Each SE offered a slightly different approach. For example, DirectHit would track the key words entered by a user, then, subsequently, this SE would track those sites the user visited and how long each visitor remained on each site, providing a usefulness rating, an index based on the reasonable assumption that if the user visited several sites before finding the desired information, it was likely that the last site visited would be the most useful.
The Hilltop SE uses a completely different model based on the authoritativeness of each site. The Hilltop algo first does a scan of a much smaller sample of web content - approximately 2.5 million text pages. From this initial scan, the program next identifies expert pages - a subset based on the quality of links to and from the site. Finally, the model delivers to the user sites ranked by authority based on the premise that expert pages (sites) will be linked to other expert sites. The Hilltop SE, therefore, delivers results ranked on expertise and accuracy rather than attempting to provide broad-ranging query coverage. This, obviously, produces a smaller site-resource list for users, which is fine since most SE users rarely go beyond the first 10-20 site listings produced by their query.
So, how does Hilltop identify expert pages? An expert page must meet certain criteria and fall within specific search parameters. First, an expert page must contain information on a specific topic - genuine, quality, useful, unbiased information, not simply SEO 'by-the-pound' text.
Next, an expert page must have at least two links from other, non-affiliated sites on the same topic. A non-affiliated site is one that maintains a unique IP address and domain name. Thus, 'salwatertaffy.com' would be considered an affiliate site of 'saltwatertaffy.co.uk' despite the difference in generic suffixes. Affiliated sites are factored out by the Hilltop algo, producing a subset of expert pages that is then delivered to the end user based on an indexed value of expertise. The result is a more focused list of higher quality sites for end-user review.
So, what does this mean to you, the webmaster of a small site selling pet care products, for example? It means that you must take steps to identify yourself as an expert page. This can be accomplished in several stages.
First, you really should remove SEO 'articles' from your site and replace them with quality text about your goods and services. Forget keyword density. Go for quality copy developed by experts.
Second, because the criteria used to establish a site's ranking have changed, you must find ways to improve your PR and the links to and from your site. If you're selling pet care products, but have incoming links from a site that sells sunglasses, the Hilltop SE will automatically eliminate your site from the expert subset.
Third, establish listings in all of the major directories including the Open Directory Project (DMOZ), Yahoo, LookSmart, et al.
Fourth, establish listings with specialized trade directories,
industry associations and reputable resource pages related to your product
or service.
Fifth, unlink your site from domain clusters and affiliate
programs that are NOT connected to your site's purpose and intent.
Sixth, disable all links from FFA sites and 'links-only' sites.
Seventh, though the Hilltop algo discounts unaffiliated links, it overweighs affiliated links. Thus, quality link building grows in importance with regard to your site's PR.
Finally, narrow the focus of the anchor text on your site and avoid adding SEO text. While SEO text will generate more hits, it will also identify the quality of information and preclude your site from the expert page subset.
The old rules of search engine optimization have changed,
and for the better as far as end users are concerned. However, webmasters
must now develop more creative means to improve their site's PR. With
the Hilltop algo in place, it's less likely that a potential client or
customer will 'accidentally' discover your landing page. However, with
some careful thought and a well-considered strategy, you can elevate your
site to expert status, increasing the potential for motivated, directed
users to find your cyber-storefront.
| Seller | Type | Auction Title | Auction Views |
|---|---|---|---|
| I, Robot |  | Buy Link on Homepage of Domain with 70,000 natural backlinks Great Website with 70,000 + backlinks. | 116 |
| I, Robot | | PR4 Link on Technical Web Journal Homepage PR4 Text Link on quality website | 81 |
| I, Robot | | USA State and City Resource Site - Pick your State Relevancy package on your choice of U.S. States. All states available! Only $25/mo. | 72 |
| RealEdu | | 5 .EDU Hosted Link Pages 100 Links Total! FREE .GOV LINK VERIFIED SELLER. 5 .EDU HOSTED PAGES. 100 LINKS TOTAL. FREE .GOV LINK. ULTIMATE SEO BOOST!!!! | 54 |
| gtlinks | | Links from 1000+ quality domains link pages. All unique IP/C Here is a great chance to boost your link popularity. Get your STATIC text link on 1000+ different sites. | 46 |
| RealEdu | | 2 FOR 1 .EDU LINK PAGE PACKAGE! MOST AFFORDABLE. VERIFIED! 2 FOR 1 .EDU LINK PAGES! 40 LINKS TOTAL! VERIFIED! GIVE IT A TRY. MOST AFFORDABLE PACKAGE! HUGE SEO BOOST | 45 |
| gtlinks | | *NEW* 3000 ARTICLE TEXT LINKS unique IP/C-class Only $55 mo. Through a major distributor of article software we can sell ARTICLE TEXT LINKS on 1000's of web sites. | 43 |
| I, Robot | | PR7 Homepage Link About Futurism and Technology NEW! PR7 Website Selling links for the first time. | 10 |
| LinkAdage | | Links In Natural Content. Millions of pages to select from. Your targeting anchor text in the content of pre-existing text. | 6 |
| Type | Bonus | Auction Title | Monthly Cost | Bids | Current Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|   | $20.00 | 0 | $120.00 | |
|  | $25.00 | 0 | $150.00 | |
|  | $70.00 | 0 | $210.00 | |
|  | $180.00 | 0 | $180.00 | |
| | $5.00 | 0 | $5.00 |
LinkAdage™ Auctions is fully owned and operated by WebOriginations LLC.
All content is protected by international copyright laws.