The authority song and dance, from Google

Those in authority get served the biggest glasses of Google juice. Authority always wins, as the man sings.

Sounds sinister, but it's not. When it comes to blogs and web sites, Google uses a concept called "authority" to help determine rankings for content to be displayed in the SERPs (search engine results pages).

Everyone's the world's leading authority on something, right? Perhaps you're No. 1 when it comes to your sister's astounding repertoire of nervous tics.

Authority in this sense, though, proves more of a popularity contest.

One important component for Google's algorithms is the number of incoming "deep links" pointing to a site. Deep links point to pages other than the index page, typically those with rich content. (The permalink page for a blog post qualifies.)

If enough of those links come from relevant sites with their own authority, good things will follow.

Other elements adding to site authority seem to be:

• Age of the site. Younger sites tend to be sandboxed (another delightful Google-related term that basically means on probation).


• Quality and depth of content, which are almost impossible to fake.


• Freshness of content (although it's possible to rank high with great static content).


• Quality of incoming links. Sites tagged .edu and .gov tend to have authority to spare.


• Relevancy of links. If you're writing about football and espn.com links to you, that's golden.


• High-quality directory listings, dmoz being the obvious example. This factor is on the wane.


• Competent execution of site basics, and the absence of spam-like behaviors.

As for Google juice, that's simply the authority that can be passed from one page (or site) to another. (An anchor link is a vote for the target page/site.) Sites/blogs have a certain amount of juice to pass on to other locations, again based on their authority. (Here is a breakdown of how Page Rank works, with nifty charts that sure look authoritative.)

SEO-related toolbars for browsers can give guesstimates on any site's Page Rank, ranging from 0/10 (a new or crappy site) to 10/10 (Google). This blog ranks a 4/10, good but not great. My DVD blog ranks 5/10.

Controlling the flow of that good Google juice is one of the techniques used by SEOs (search engine optimizers). The nofollow link is used to cut off the flow to a specific page. An example would be when you link to your contact page off the home page. Why waste that precious juice on a service page?

If your Google Page Rank (named after Larry Page) hits, say, 4/10, you should think twice about reciprocal linking to a 1/10 blog unless it's really good and relevant.

Webmaster World, a forum with lots of authority, offers advanced reading on site authority and the juice.

While you're pondering all this, you might want to check out the terrific new album from the guy who wrote "The Authority Song," John Mellencamp. "Life, Death, Love and Freedom" has been getting great reviews, as most of his albums tend to do.

Mellencamp has matured into a fine American rootsy artist. (Yeah, I hate that Chevy ad, too.) He's chronically underrated by the listening public, based on the number of terrific albums he has in the cut-out bins.

And so here's a Google juice toast to Mr. John Mellencamp.