Google's PageRank patent has expired (2019)

#1

Post by ddtaylor » Wed, Jun 01, 2022, 1:30 PM UTC

Google's PageRank patent has expired (2019)
patents.google.com

Re: Google's PageRank patent has expired (2019)

#2

Post by jedimastert » Wed, Jun 01, 2022, 1:50 PM UTC

A CS YouTube channel (Reducible) just put out a fantastic video about the PageRank algorithm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGQe4kiPnrU

Re: Google's PageRank patent has expired (2019)

#3

Post by klez » Wed, Jun 01, 2022, 1:55 PM UTC

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20067712

Re: Google's PageRank patent has expired (2019)

#4

Post by failTide » Wed, Jun 01, 2022, 1:57 PM UTC

Revolutionary at the time - but have there have been any new breakthrough strategies/algorithms for search in the last decade?

Re: Google's PageRank patent has expired (2019)

#5

Post by tyingq » Wed, Jun 01, 2022, 1:59 PM UTC

I'm not sure how useful this might be to anyone anymore.

Google still uses it for the base ranking. But, the results are then run through a variety of add-on ML pipelines, like Vince (authority/brand power), Panda (inbound link quality), Penguin (content quality), and many others that target other attributes (page layout, ad placement, etc). Then there's also more granular weightings for things like "power within a niche", where a new page might do well for plumbing (because of other existing pages on the site), but wouldn't automatically have any authority for medical topics.

Re: Google's PageRank patent has expired (2019)

#6

Post by TuringNYC » Wed, Jun 01, 2022, 2:00 PM UTC

Can anyone explain why the PageRank patent was valuable when an alternative (Prof Jon Kleinberg's Hypertext Induced Topic Search or HITS algo) was published at the same time and available for use?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HITS_algorithm

Re: Google's PageRank patent has expired (2019)

#7

Post by swiftDaemon » Wed, Jun 01, 2022, 2:01 PM UTC

21e8 replaces pagerank https://youtu.be/6HYdTtIoyts

Re: Google's PageRank patent has expired (2019)

#8

Post by ramraj07 » Wed, Jun 01, 2022, 2:02 PM UTC

tyingq wrote: post #5

I'm not sure how useful this might be to anyone anymore. Google still uses it for the base ranking. But, the results are then run through a variety of add-on ML pipelines, like Vince (authority/brand power), Panda (inbound link quality), Penguin (content quality), and many others that target other attributes (page layout, ad placement, etc). Then there's also more granular weightings for things like "power within a n…

Where can I learn more about all these models you mention?

Re: Google's PageRank patent has expired (2019)

#9

Post by axg11 » Wed, Jun 01, 2022, 2:03 PM UTC

failTide wrote: post #4

Revolutionary at the time - but have there have been any new breakthrough strategies/algorithms for search in the last decade?

In general the biggest breakthrough in that space has been machine learning powered relevance scoring and NLP. PageRank worked by using high level metadata (links between pages). We now have methods that can incorporate metadata information and analysis of the content itself.

Re: Google's PageRank patent has expired (2019)

#10

Post by 5evOX5hTZ9mYa9E » Wed, Jun 01, 2022, 2:03 PM UTC

tyingq wrote: post #5

I'm not sure how useful this might be to anyone anymore. Google still uses it for the base ranking. But, the results are then run through a variety of add-on ML pipelines, like Vince (authority/brand power), Panda (inbound link quality), Penguin (content quality), and many others that target other attributes (page layout, ad placement, etc). Then there's also more granular weightings for things like "power within a n…

And yet, the results are worse and worse.