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Tricking Search Engines and Climbing to the Top of Search Rankings

A few months back, researchers at eTraffic discovered just how far people would go to get to the top of online search rankings. A massive hacking scheme was uncovered in which links to a strange online gambling site were suddenly placed onto 76 university and foundation web pages. These web pages, which included ones from […]

PageRanking Eco-systems: Using PageRank to predict extinction

When learning about PageRanks we used the internet for our example network. This made sense in lecture due to the connectedness and searchability of the internet. However, in the beginning of the semester when we were discussing networks we also discussed how eco-systems are amazing examples of networks. In an eco-system, every member is dependent […]

Should Facebook manipulate users?

We have come to understand how information is presented online to form an immense interactive and connected network. The presentation of information is filtered in unique ways, based on content value and predetermined algorithms. This feature of the Web can directly impact the ways in which people process and understand the information they are presented […]

Ticket Scalping: A Way to Clear the Market

Ticket scalping (or ticket resale) is the act of reselling tickets for major events. Ticket scalping occurs very often for large sporting and entertainment events (examples include major league games, concerts, musicals, etc.) events. Ticket scalping is forced to exist because box offices tend to artificially under-price tickets which creates excess demand. Because of this, […]

The Rise of Link Spam: Blame Google PageRank

http://searchengineland.com/rip-google-pagerank-retrospective-244286 Google Search has long used PageRank as part of its formula for its search engine. PageRank is a way to list a group of pages from best to worst when considering how they answer a search query. In this iterative process, each page in the network begins with an equal page rank, and then […]

Search Engine Optimization Software in the World of PageRank

In today’s age, website developers and online content producers spend countless hours trying to improve their Google rankings. As we learned in class, the way in which Google displays search results is driven by a PageRank algorithm. However, as people have become more familiar with the algorithm, they have started to artificially boost the rankings […]

Combining Auctions with New Technology

http://www.forbes.com/sites/lianeyvkoff/2016/09/16/a-new-automobile-auction-house-shakes-up-old-business-model/#7da7ea6a347c There is a new auction house named The Finest Automobile Auctions which is now combining the old practice with modern day technology and online shopping. The CEO of the auction house described how typically if an automobile isn’t sold during the 2 minute auction, it is typically sold later that day in a backroom […]

Evolution of Google Search

While PageRank certainly plays a large part in the accuracy of Google searches, several other algorithms are implemented by Google to give them an advantage over Yahoo and Bing. Google Panda is an algorithm implemented by Google around February of 2011. Panda is a spam-fighting algorithm that measures the caliber of a website. If a […]

A Bid to Modernize Auctions

When people think of auctions, they often imagine overcrowded rooms of people raising paddles, furiously bidding for rare antiques. While these Hollywood-esque auctions do exist in the real world, they are far from the norm; indeed, auctions are actually a very useful sales format, commonly used a surprising number of cases– for example, the sale […]

Applying Graph Theory to Conservation Ecology

Graph theory allows us to understand connections across undetermined distances, allowing ecologists to visualize landscape connectivity- a particularly important application in the field of conservation ecology. In a 2000 study, researchers leveraged graph theory to understand habitat connectivity for species with different abilities to disperse across habitats. This allowed the researchers to understand the role […]

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