Please help explain this (Question about search results)

[Petbrosia]

What's up SEO's,

I'm new the SEO world and had a quick question. I just installed the MOZBAR and did a google search:

"What is Google Voice"

I attached an image of the results I received.

Can someone explain how MacWorld's article outranked Google's when both Google's Page Authority and Domain Authority are so much stronger than MacWorlds. This is in addition to google having many more links.

This is basic, but any insight will be very helpful.

Thanks guys!

[Screen%20Shot%202014-02-18%20at%206.08.15%20PM.png](file:///Users/jackfarrell/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202014-02-18%20at%206.08.15%20PM.png)

[KeriMorgret]

Hi Keith,

That image isn't displaying. Could you upload it first to imgur or a similar service, then add in the link? It's trying to reference your local hard drive right now. Thanks!

[Petbrosia]

Keri,

Thanks for the heads up!

Here is the link to the image:

http://imgur.com/oqUer8b

Thanks everyone!

[billhartzer]

Keith, there are a lot of factors that go into the actual search engine rankings that you and I see on the search results page. With the particular query "what is google voice", Google has decided that the MacWorld article, with a title of "what is google voice" is more appropriate for the query than the actual Google Voice page.

I would gather that from the query that the user is wanting an explanation of the product: they're not wanting to go to the Google Voice page itself. So, Google is showing the answer to the question rather than the actual site that they're asking about.

This also is a good example of Google Hummingbird at work, where they're able to understand the query better, and deliver better search results based on the actual query, not just look at "keywords".

[Petbrosia]

Bill,

Thanks for the response and it makes a lot of sense!

Can you or anyone else describe the difference between Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird? Like how do they work together? Or are they updates that makes the other ones obsolete?

Thanks again for the help guys!

[Cyrus-Shepard]

Hi Keith,

Instead of answering this question, I suspect what you're looking for is a basic introduction to Google's Algorythm, and how everything fits together.

And although nobody but Google can really answer that, perhaps I can point you in the right direction. For example, it's important to remember Google uses over 200 signals in it's algorithm that all work together in a very complex fashion. A few of these we try to examine in our Search Engine Ranking Factors study.

You can never quite tell what factor pushes a website to the top, but often we have hints. One of my favorite tools is Moz's Keyword Analysis tool (run a full SERP analysis after the initial analysis) which will show you multiple data points and analysis to help you figure out why one result ranks higher than the next.

And not to dodge the question about Panda and the other updates, but they tend to work together. You can find more information about each here: http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change

[Petbrosia]

Cyrus,

Thanks for taking the time to write your response