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A group of Google employees have recently filed a patent application (#20050071741) with the United States Patent and Trademark Office which gives insight into how to optimize one's website to do well in the Google rankings. The filing of the patent gives verification that Google uses or intends to use historical data in its ranking algorithm. This patent also gives credence to the Google Sandbox Theory for new websites.

Under the Google Sandbox Theory, new websites are placed in a sort of holding tank for observation for a period of time (6 ' 9 months at present) until the website has proved that it's not a fly-by-night operation. Once the Sandbox period is over, then new websites will climb rapidly in the rankings. The Google Sandbox Theory is an unofficial theory based on observation and anecdotal evidence from those within the search engine optimization industry.

Based on the new Google patent here are the top 5 suggestions to better optimize a website for Google:

1. Build links slowly to your website. Websites that put up a bunch links quickly send up a red flag that links are being added in order to boost rankings. According to Google, natural links happen slowly over time, so one's link-building strategy also needs to include link-building slowly over time.

2. The anchor text in the back links to a website also need to be natural as well. If a website has lots of great content of interest to visitors, other Webmasters will naturally link to the website. Content is still king when it comes to building natural links. In fact, having great content is the best natural linking strategy.

3. If content is king, then fresh content is prince. Google thrives on websites that are constantly adding fresh content. Websites with stale content erode in value over time.

4. When adding fresh content, make sure it is substantial. According to the patent, Google measures substantial versus insubstantial content that is being added to a website. Don't try to trick the search engines with lots of minor content updates.

5. Outbound links to trusted, authority sites help in the rankings. As a reputable online business, it makes good business sense to refer customers to other reputable businesses as well. Referring customers to disreputable websites only hurt a business's reputation and credibility and Google takes this into account when deciding how to rank websites.

There are more insights to be gained from the patent application, but these are the highlights that will help Webmasters and SEO's focusing on Google to achieve higher rankings. Many of these ideas have been stated before as theory and now the patent application verifies these theories. Historical data has always been thought to play a significant role in the Google rankings. So now that it has been confirmed, taking action seems to be the next logical step.