Temporal Link Attributes

One of the factors for search engine ranking is the temporal attribute of inbound links. Google, the search engine which handles 75 percent of keyword searches, places a reasonable degree of importance to this aspect.

Google weighs links based on temporal analysis by considering the date when the link appeared in their index, the date when changes were made to the anchor text, and the date when a webpage the link is on was updated.

Age matters. Simply said, older links weigh more than new ones. Google places more value on inbound links which are about three to four months old—the older the link, the more significant it is. Newer links are valued less to keep them from climbing in the search engine rankings using the link-buying tactic. Google keeps a vigil over link buying and selling along with other issues such as over-abundance of reciprocal links and links to and from spammy Internet communities through the Google sandbox (or trustbox). This is basically a set of filters in Google’s search algorithm which prevents new websites from ranking well until they’re able to gain trust.

Despite the above statement, however, Google is also good at detecting patterns of link growth. A newer website with say, 500 links, which continuously garners an average of 10 links per day will rank higher than an older one with 1000 links but only has an average of 3 link additions on a daily basis. Through this, trends are identified and it can be determined whether a website’s contents hold overall long-term topical relevance or merely a temporary one.

When a website is quickly gaining inbound linkage, though, Google checks whether to flag this site as a spammer. At this point, another sub-factor of temporal attribute (other than the link’s age), is considered: the relevance of contents to current events. For example, a political website is expected to gain a massive amount of links during election season.

The temporal link attribute, however, could also cause a negative effect to a site’s rankings. A technique called “Google popping” is now being used by competitors against each other. This method entails putting up links to one’s rival websites then pulling them all down shortly thereafter.

Other search engines place lower importance on the time aspect. MSN is the least likely to consider temporal analysis as a consequential factor while Yahoo! places a certain amount of weight on the age of the link. Experts in search engine optimization, in general, affirm that the temporal link attribute holds moderate importance.