Google's patent summary for backlinks

Feedback evaluation criteria for Google are described in patent 7716225, approved May 11, 2010. This patent is called: Ranking documents based on user behavior and/or feature data.

It shows how a link to another page is assigned a value depending on the intended presentation and the behavior of the user or user class.
The probability of clicking on a link follows from several factors: Presentation, position, relevance, objectivity .

Link view

All factors that may affect the likelihood for a visitor to click on a link are considered and add value to that link.

Font size and color.
If she's bigger and more visible, we're more likely to click on her.
The position of the link on the page.
Links placed at the beginning are likely to be tracked.
Position in the list.
Links at the top of the list are likely to be tracked.
Number of words in the wording.
Keywords in wording.
This is a relevance factor in both the source and target page.
That the wording is commercial in nature.
If it contains words such as "best," "first," etc.
Commercial communication is less credible.
The words surrounding the reference are taken into account.
They supplement the wording and interpret the relevance to the goal, as well as the relevance between the wording and the content of the page (natural link ).
The important thing is that the link is textual or in the image.
In the second case, it is the picture that serves to assess the importance of communication.
The image size is taken into account.
A larger image gives the link more weight.

Source and

target independence

A link to a site owned by the same webmaster can be depreciated. For this, in addition to the known engine data, several factors are taken into account.

That the link points to the same site.
An internal connection costs less than an external one (even if it has the advantage of its wording to associate a goal with keywords.
Or that the source and target have the same hoster.
It is assumed that this factor is weighted by the importance of the hoster.

Link and

Target Page

PageRank, of course, counts.
This is the first factor.
Its URL is taken into account.
If there is a link between page keywords and link keywords, this makes the link more relevant.
Sites.
Each site is assigned a trust factor.
Nodes associated with the target.
They are accounted for by patent .
Number of links per page.
The PageRank algorithm distributes the weight passed to the target by sharing the weight of the page containing the links.
Other keywords on the page.
This may reduce the relevance of the link .
Other keywords in the headlines.
Page theme and goal theme.
If the link is relevant, she is more likely to be followed. It is also the basis of Adsense contextual advertising.
Connection with the current topic.
News is a positioning factor.
If the link is on a redirected page.
A site that has a link to a page on the same site through another redirecting site on the first will have that page demoted. Communication has a negative impact.

Links are often created on pages that are never modified by the webmaster. If the linked page is modified, should the link treated as yours retain its value? He actually did the voting. That is why the patent for calculating page scores takes into account the evolution over time, as well as the fact that new links are constantly being added.

User behavior

It can be collected directly in various ways, on the engine results pages, or using the Google toolbar.

We take into account the user's language.
Relevance is higher if the user's language is the target language.
spotlight if we know him.
This can be done from queries about the engine provided on the source page .
Number of users who select the link.
Total number of links per page.
Behavior change.
Changes in how users click or not are considered.

Analyzing all these factors allows Google to build models that influence user behavior and therefore the value that can be given to a link, and therefore positioning in landing page results.