Mike Grehan Interviews Apostolos Gerasoulis and Jim Lanzone of Ask Jeeves and Teoma
e-marketing-news.co.uk"'Mike Grehan in conversation with...' Jim Lanzone & Apostolos Gerasoulis of Ask Jeeves/Teoma"
Discussion focuses on Google PageRank and HITS (Hyperlink Induced Topic Search) by Kleinberg
Grehan explains HITS here http://www.search-engine-book.co.uk/LinkEquityExplained.pdf
The conversation proper opens with the shock* answer to "Does Google use PageRank? No says Apostolos. Have they created some kind of local implementation based on anchor text? Yes says Apostolos.
Grehan reckons that the future of search "is more about data on users. Find out about the web-galaxy developed by us (the web page makers) and the user-web-galaxy controlled by the search engines. And the link we need to create between them. "
Apostolos on PageRank: The ranking algorithm is so much more complex now. And PageRank is just used when they want to break ties.I'm sure that they've not implemented Kleinberg's algorithm. But I'm also sure that they have created some kind of local implementation based on anchor text...I think the biggest improvement they've made is anti-spam inclusion and consistency. But what surprises me is that they haven't used subject specific popularity..."
we're still at the beginning of search.
Apostolos says of the development of search: "in 2000 we were at level one. In 2004 we were at level three, and we need to get to level ten...(it is )not about the algorithm alone, it's about building the infrastructure to be able to deliver 24/7never going down"
Jim makes an interesting observation: "SEMs [search engine marketers]are only really looking at queries that are commercial. Because that's who their clients are. And they're not looking at the vast query stream where we don't have that issue.
On the majority of queries on our site there are no ads at all."
The nitty gritty question from mike: "what we need to do to build the perfect Jeeves/Teoma web site? What do we need to do to rank well?
Apostolos:
Well, build a great page which is recognised by the web. The only problem you have is how quickly this page will be recognised by the web, but Teoma, I don't know if you're aware has recently improved the crawling speed dramatically. So, it's basically building a great page which will be recognised within its community.
Don't try to build your own community and say: "I'm the one who recognises myself" though!
Now, with Teoma, as I mentioned before, we're going into the next generation. I want to get you excited because 2005 is going to be the most exciting year for search engines.
Now it's not just about communities, it's about the users. There are new technologies coming in which will change the way that people access information.
I don't know if you saw BBC news in the UK? There was an article where they had a competition with Teoma Vs all the major search engines and we came at the top. I don't know if you read that?
Like I said there are two galaxies. One is the user galaxy which you guys don't know about. And the other is the web galaxy which you guys work with every day.
The lucky ones, really, are the search engines because they own the user galaxy. We were talking about personalisation, let's touch on that again. It's not the individual who is important, it's the group.
We belong to groups and we have group behaviour. And this to me, going back to the subject specific popularity and the clusters we have created on the web... Well just imagine if we can create clusters of user behaviours!"
Grehan concludes: "it's a very fine line, but the methods and the efforts that people put into spamming may be better spent just creating some great content instead of crappy spam. You may have somebody linking to you and end up just doing well naturally!"
* see PageRank is dead, long live PageRank
posted by Jen @ 3:44 PM
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