A few months ago I wrote about Google’s QDF algorithm. QDF is an acronym for Query Deserves Freshness and it’s a method used by Google to provide fresh content in response to queries. When I first wrote about QDF around 17.5% of queries were affected, the latest update double that figure to 35%.
At this time the exact details of how Google determines freshness is unknown, however they have stated that one of the factors used to determine freshness is the date a page was first indexed. So if you publish page and then update it a few months later that is NOT considered fresh, even if you have completely rewritten the page.
This makes a lot of sense when you think about it and makes the new QDF algorithm far better than previous versions. It’s the Query in Query Deserves Freshness that maters not just the freshness of individual pages. So for QDF to be invoked and rankings to be increased both the query and the page need to be fresh.
What Does Freshness Really Mean To Google?
35% of all queries are now affected by QDF, that’s huge. When you consider this represents one in three searches the probability is that traffic to your site is being affected. So let’s look at what freshness really means in the eyes of Google.
Without doubt the social graph now plays an important part of QDF. Twitter is the largest creator of fresh content on the web however since July twitter no longer feed Google with Tweet data, without that feed Goggle has trouble indexing Twitter fast enough. Twitter, despite the indexing problem, Google +1, Facebook, Places pages reviews and consumer created product reviews are just some of the ways Google can keep its thumb on the social graph.
Fresh And Topical
QDF is a way of adjusting the scoring of a document. On and off page criteria along with unique content are still at the core of search engine rankings. However fresh content about current events will not have the same opportunity to build relevancy based on links alone. QDF steps in to level the playing field by rewarding fresh and topical content so that it can compete effectively with established, well linked evergreen content.
However, the boost is temporal and will eventually drop off and become a negative effect on rankings. However a good link profile and a trusted domain can easily overcome this small negative effect. QDF is not the Google algorithm, just one part of it.
Tags: QDF, Query Deserves Freshness
