Ranking Domains Using Domain Maturity
Invented by Janine Crumb, Krishna C Gade, Rangan Majumder, Vishnu Challam
Assigned to Microsoft
US Patent Application 20080086467
Published April 10, 2008
Filed October 10, 2006

Abstract

Ranking domains for search engines is provided herein. To rank a domain, contributing domains associated with the domain are identified. Additionally, the maturity of each of the contributing domains is determined. A rank for the domain is then determined based at least in part on the maturity of each of the contributing domains. The domain rankings may then be used to order results for search queries.

    SHOOK, HARDY & BACON L.L.P.;(c/o MICROSOFT CORPORATION)
    INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEPARTMENT, 2555 GRAND BOULEVARD
    KANSAS CITY
    MO
    64108-2613
    US

1. A method for ranking a domain, the method comprising:receiving a list of one or more contributing domains associated with the domain;determining a maturity for at least one of the one or more contributing domains; andcalculating a rank for the domain based at least in part on the maturity for the at least one of the one or more contributing domains.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the maturity for at least one of the one or more contributing domains comprises identifying at least one of the one or more contributing domains as a mature domain.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the mature domain is identified based on factors comprising at least one of a date of domain registration and a date of first discovery of the mature domain.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the mature domain is a contributing domain that has been registered for more than one year without having expired or being swapped.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein calculating the rank for the domain comprises calculating the rank based at least in part on a rank of the mature domain.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the maturity for at least one of the one or more contributing domains comprises identifying at least one of the one or more contributing domains as an immature domain; andwherein calculating the rank for the domain comprises calculating the rank based at least in part on a rank of the immature domain, wherein the rank of the immature domain is based on contributing domains associated with the immature domain that have been identified as mature domains.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the rank for the domain comprises calculating the rank based on a fraction of a number associated with at least one of the one or more contributing domains, wherein the fraction of the number associated with the at least one of the one or more contributing domains corresponds to the maturity of the at least one of the one or more contributing domains.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more contributing domains comprise a domain that includes at least one link to the domain.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the rank of the domain to facilitate ordering results for a search query that include the domain.

10. A method for presenting search results, the method comprising:receiving information associated with a plurality of domains;determining a maturity for each of one or more contributing domains associated with each of the plurality of domains;calculating a rank for each of the plurality of domains based at least in part on the maturity for at least one of the one or more contributing domains associated with the each of the plurality of domains;in response to receiving a search query, generating one or more search results comprising at least one of the plurality of domains that match the search query; andpresenting the one or more search results in accordance with ranks of the at least one of the plurality of domains that match the search query.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the maturity for each of the one or more contributing domains associated with each of the plurality of domains comprises identifying at least one of the one or more contributing domains as a mature domain.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein calculating the rank for each of the plurality of domains comprises calculating the rank based at least in part on a rank of the mature domain.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the maturity for each of the one or more contributing domains associated with each of the plurality of domains comprises identifying at least one of the one or more contributing domains as an immature domain; andwherein calculating the rank for each of the plurality of domains comprises calculating the rank based at least in part on a rank of the mature domain and a rank of the immature domain, wherein the rank of the immature domain is based only on contributing domains associated with the immature domain that have been identified as mature domains.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein calculating the rank for each of the plurality of domains comprises calculating the rank based on a fraction of a rank associated with at least one of the one or more contributing domains, wherein the fraction of the rank associated with the at least one of the one or more contributing domains corresponds to the maturity of the at least one of the one or more contributing domains.

15. A search engine for ranking search results, the search engine comprising:a ranking component configured to determine one or more contributing domains associated with each of a plurality of domains, to determine a maturity for each of the one or more contributing domains, and to calculate a rank for each of the plurality of domains based at least in part on the maturity for at least one of the one or more contributing domains; anda searching component configured to perform a search in response to a search query and to return one or more search results comprising at least one of the plurality of domains that match the search query.

16. The search engine of claim 15, further comprising a user interface component configured to receive the search query and to present the one or more search results in accordance with the ranks of the at least one of the plurality of domains that match the search query.

17. The search engine of claim 15, wherein the ranking component is further configured to determine the maturity for each of the one or more contributing domains by identifying at least one of the one or more contributing domains as a mature domain.

18. The search engine of claim 17, wherein the ranking component is further configured to calculate the rank for each of the plurality of domains based at least in part on a rank of the mature domain.

19. The search engine of claim 17, wherein the ranking component is further configured to determine the maturity for each of the one or more contributing domains by identifying at least one of the one or more contributing domains as an immature domain and to calculate the rank for each of the plurality of domains based at least in part on a rank of the mature domain and a rank of the immature domain, wherein the rank of the immature domain is based only on contributing domains associated with the immature domain that have been identified as mature domains.

20. The search engine of claim 15, wherein the ranking component is further configured to calculate the rank for each of the plurality of domains based on a fraction of a rank associated with at least one of the one or more contributing domains, wherein the fraction of the rank associated with the at least one of the one or more contributing domains corresponds to the maturity of the at least one of the one or more contributing domains.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001]Not Applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

[0002]Not Applicable.

BACKGROUND

[0003]Domain ranking is frequently used by search engines to facilitate the ordering of results for a search query. In general, a domain may be ranked based in part on the number of contributing domains associated with that domain. A contributing domain may be, for instance, one that includes a link to the domain being ranked. For example, if hundreds of other domains that maintain at least one web site include one or more links to a particular domain, the domain may receive a higher rank than another domain that is referenced by just a few other domains. In addition to the number of contributing domains, ranks of the contributing domains may influence the rank for the domain as well. For example, if a trusted, popular domain, such as Yahoo.com or CNN.com, includes a link to the domain, the ranks for such popular domains may be attributed to the rank for the domain. Receiving a higher domain ranking often means that the domain would be listed above other competing domains, thereby affording more visits by those browsing or searching the Internet. For domains that maintain commercial web sites or web sites that charge advertisers on per-click or per-visit basis, a higher domain ranking means better profitability. For example, sites like Yahoo.com and CNN.com, which are visited by millions of people each day, attract many commercial advertisers who are willing to pay large fees.

[0004]Typically, a domain includes links to other domains to make its content more useful and attractive for its visitors. Most existing domain ranking algorithms often assume that a number of contributing domains that maintain one or more links to a particular domain provides an indication of the popularity or utility of the particular domain. Those algorithms also tend to assume that the particular domain is popular and/or useful if a link is included in another domain that is well-known for its popularity and utility, such as MSN.com. These assumptions have been held to be mostly correct when it was neither easy nor cheap to register and maintain a domain.

[0005]Due in part to increased competition in the domain registration market in recent years, however, the cost involved in purchasing a domain has decreased significantly. In some cases, domain registrars even offer free domain registrations for up to thirty to sixty day trial periods. Spammers often take advantage of such offers through a spam technique known as a web farm. In particular, spammers purchase or otherwise obtain a large number of sites and interlink the sites together to increase the sites’ rankings by artificially increasing the number of contributing domains for some or all of the sites. In effect, this practice defeats the assumption that the more a domain is referenced by other domains, the more likely that the domains is popular and/or useful such that it should be highly ranked.

SUMMARY

[0006]This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0007]Embodiments of the present invention relate to, among other things, ranking a domain. One or more contributing domains associated with a target domain are identified and the maturity of the contributing domains is determined. By way of example only and not limitation, the maturity of a contributing domain may be determined based on the date that it was registered or the date that it was first discovered by a search engine. A rank for the target domain is then calculated based on the maturity of the contributing domains associated with that target domain. Accordingly, when a search engine receives a search query, results may be ordered based at least in part on the domain rankings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

[0008]The present invention is described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:

[0009]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing environment suitable for use in implementing the present invention;

[0010]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary system in which embodiments of the present invention may be employed;

[0011]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary search engine in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0012]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing a method for ranking a domain in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

[0013]FIG. 5. is a flow diagram showing a method for presenting search results in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014]The subject matter of the present invention is described with specificity herein to meet statutory requirements. However, the description itself is not intended to limit the scope of this patent. Rather, the inventors have contemplated that the claimed subject matter might also be embodied in other ways, to include different steps or combinations of steps similar to the ones described in this document, in conjunction with other present or future technologies. Moreover, although the terms “step” and/or “block” may be used herein to connote different elements of methods employed, the terms should not be interpreted as implying any particular order among or between various steps herein disclosed unless and except when the order of individual steps is explicitly described.

Overview

[0015]Embodiments of the present invention provide an approach for ranking a domain based on the maturity of contributing domains associated with the domain. By way of example only and not limitation, a maturity of a contributing domain may be based on the date that the contributing domain was registered or the date that the contributing domain was first discovered by a search engine.

[0016]Less mature (i.e., newer) domains typically have a higher likelihood of being spam and/or being a part of a web farm that attempts to artificially inflate domain rankings for domains in the web farm. Accordingly, by taking into account the maturity of contributing domains when determining a rank for a domain, embodiments of the present invention provide domain rankings in which more relevant and useful domains may be ranked higher than spam domains and/or less relevant domains.

[0017]Accordingly, in one aspect, an embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method for ranking a domain. The method includes receiving a list of one or more contributing domains associated with the domain. The method also includes determining a maturity for at least one of the contributing domains. The method further includes calculating a rank for the domain based at least in part on the maturity for the contributing domain.

[0018]In another aspect of the invention, an embodiment is directed to a method for presenting search results. The method includes receiving information associated with a number of domains. The method also includes determining a maturity for each of one or more contributing domains associated with each domain. The method further includes calculating a rank for each of the domains based at least in part on the maturity for the contributing domains associated with the each domain. The method also includes generating one or more search results that include domains that match a search query. The method still further includes presenting the search results in accordance with ranks of the domains that match the search query.

[0019]In a further aspect, an embodiment of the present invention is directed to a search engine for ranking search results. The search engine includes a ranking component configured to determine one or more contributing domains associated with each of a number of domains. The ranking component is also configured to determine a maturity for each of the contributing domains and to calculate a rank for each of the domains based at least in part on the maturity for at least one of the contributing domains. The search engine also includes a searching component configured to perform a search in response to a search query and to return one or more search results comprising at least one of the domains that match the search query.

Exemplary Operating Environment

[0020]Referring to the drawings in general and initially to FIG. 1 in particular, an exemplary operating environment for implementing embodiments of the present invention is shown and designated generally as computing device 100. Computing device 100 is but one example of a suitable computing environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the invention. Neither should the computing device 100 be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of components illustrated.

[0021]The invention may be described in the general context of computer code or machine-useable instructions, including computer-executable instructions such as program modules, being executed by a computer or other machine, such as a personal data assistant or other handheld device. Generally, program modules including routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., refer to code that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The invention may be practiced in a variety of system configurations, including hand-held devices, consumer electronics, general-purpose computers, more specialty computing devices, etc. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote-processing devices that are linked through a communications network.

[0022]Computing device 100 includes a bus 110 that directly or indirectly couples the following devices: memory 112, one or more processors 114, one or more presentation components 116, input/output (I/O) ports 118, I/O components 120, and an illustrative power supply 122. Bus 110 represents what may be one or more busses (such as an address bus, data bus, or combination thereof). Although the various blocks of FIG. 1 are shown with lines for the sake of clarity, in reality, delineating various components is not so clear, and metaphorically, the lines would more accurately be grey and fuzzy. For example, one may consider a presentation component such as a display device to be an I/O component. Also, processors have memory. We recognize that such is the nature of the art, and reiterate that the diagram of FIG. 1 is merely illustrative of an exemplary computing device that can be used in connection with one or more embodiments of the present invention. Distinction is not made between such categories as “workstation,” “server,” “laptop,” “hand-held device,” etc., as all are contemplated within the scope of FIG. 1 and reference to “computing device.”

[0023]Computing device 100 typically includes a variety of computer-readable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media may comprises Random Access Memory (RAM); Read Only Memory (ROM); Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM); flash memory or other memory technologies; CDROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical or holographic media; magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, carrier wave, or any other medium that can be used to encode desired information and be accessed by computing device 100.

[0024]Memory 112 includes computer-storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory. The memory may be removable, nonremovable, or a combination thereof. Exemplary hardware devices include solid-state memory, hard drives, optical-disc drives, etc. Computing device 100 includes one or more processors that read data from various entities such as memory 112 or I/O components 120. Presentation component(s) 116 present data indications to a user or other device. Exemplary presentation components include a display device, speaker, printing component, vibrating component, etc.

[0025]I/O port(s) 118 allow computing device 100 to be logically coupled to other devices including I/O components 120, some of which may be built in. Illustrative components include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, printer, wireless device, etc.

Exemplary System

[0026]Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram is provided illustrating an exemplary system 200 in which embodiments of the present invention may be employed. It should be understood that this and other arrangements described herein are set forth only as examples. Other arrangements and elements (e.g., machines, interfaces, functions, orders, and groupings of functions, etc.) can be used in addition to or instead of those shown, and some elements may be omitted altogether. Further, many of the elements described herein are functional entities that may be implemented as discrete or distributed components or in conjunction with other components, and in any suitable combination and location. Various functions described herein as being performed by one or more entities may be carried out by hardware, firmware, and/or software. For instance, various functions may be carried out by a processor executing instructions stored in memory.

[0027]Among other components not shown, the system 200 may include multiple client devices, such as client device 202, multiple source devices, such as source device 204, and a search engine 208. Each of the client devices, source devices, and search engine may be any type of computing device, such as computing device 100 described with reference to FIG. 1, for example. The components may communicate with each other via a network 206, which may include, without limitation, one or more local area networks (LANs) and/or wide area networks (WANs). Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets, and the Internet. It should be understood that any number of client devices, source devices, search engines, and networks may be employed within system 200 within the scope of the present invention.

[0028]Source devices, such as the source device 204, may maintain a variety of domains. For example, the source device 204 may be a web server that maintains multiple domains. The search engine 208 may access domain information by communicating with these source devices. For example, the search engine 208 may periodically crawl the source device 204 to access and/or update domain information, such as domain registration date, domain expiration date, domain swapping date(s), and a set of linked domains.

[0029]The search engine 208 accesses domain information from the multitude of source devices, such as the source device 204, and determines a rank for each of the domains maintained by the source devices. The ranks may be used to sort the domains when users access the search engine 208 to search for particular domains through the client device 202.

[0030]Referring now to FIG. 3, an exemplary search engine 300 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention will be described in further detail. Among other components not shown, the search engine may include a searching component 302, a ranking component 304, a database 308, and a user interface component 306. Each component may comprise a program, routine, application, or other machine-executable code capable of performing the actions discussed herein. One skilled in the art will recognize that the components shown in FIG. 3 are provided for illustrative purposes only and other arrangements may be provided in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention.

[0031]Generally, the search engine 300 may receive search queries from client devices, such as the client device 202 of FIG. 2, via the user interface component 306. The user interface component 306 may communicate to receive search queries from client devices and pass the search queries to the searching component 302 for performing searches. The user interface component 306 may also communicate to receive search results from the searching component 302 and return the search results to the client devices.

[0032]The searching component 302 may receive a search query from the user interface component 306 and perform a search to generate search results comprising domains stored in the database 308 that match the search query in accordance with the ranks of the domains. The searching component 302 may also return the search results to the user interface component 306, which may generate a search results user interface and provide the search results user interface to the requesting client device.

[0033]The ranking component 304 may collect information associated with various domains from one or more source devices, such as the source device 204 of FIG. 2, by, for example, crawling the source devices. The ranking component 304 may determine contributing domains associated with each domain, determine a maturity for each of the contributing domains, and calculate a rank for each domain based on the maturity of the contributing domains associated with a respective domain. In some embodiments, the ranking component 304 may also save domain information and domain ranks in the database 308. In some embodiments, the maturity of a contributing domain is determined based on the date that the contributing domain was registered or the date that the contributing domain was first discovered by a search engine (e.g., when domain information does not readily provide a registration date). In some embodiments, determining the maturity of a domain also includes identifying the domain as either a mature domain or an immature domain. For example, all contributing domains that were registered more than a year ago may be identified as mature domains.

[0034]In some embodiments, a domain’s rank is calculated based in part on only mature contributing domains that are associated with the domain. For example, suppose a target domain called ClickHereForSearch.com is linked to by four other domains, Yahoo.com, MSN.com, CNN.com, and SearchesRus.com. Suppose further that the first three domains have been registered for more than one year while SearchesRus.com is a new domain that was registered less than two months ago. If, in the present example, a mature domain is defined as a domain that has been registered for more than a year without being expired or swapped, the domains, Yahoo.com, MSN.com, and CNN.com, would be identified as mature domains while SearchesRus.com would not. A rank for ClickHereForSearch.com may then be calculated based on linking from Yahoo.com, MSN.com, and CNN.com only (i.e., the mature domains) because SearchesRus.com is not a mature domain.

[0035]In other embodiments, a domain’s rank may be calculated based, at least in part, on the presence of both mature and immature contributing domains. In such embodiments, the contribution of immature domains to a target domain’s rank would be based only on the rank that the immature contributing domains received from mature domains associated with the immature contributing domains. Such embodiments recognize that although new domains often tend to be spam, not all new domains are spam and that, in fact, there are typically new domains that provide great utility. These embodiments assure that immature domains that quickly gather popularity for their utility are allowed to contribute rank that is accumulated from mature domains associated with the immature domains.

[0036]Referring back to ClickHereForSearch.com example, suppose that SearchesRus.com is a new domain that quickly gathered many other domain owners’ attention for its unique search algorithms. Suppose further that popular and/or trusted domains (i.e., mature domains), such as ABC.com, Harvard.edu, and USPS.com, include at least one link to SearchesRus.com in addition to a slew of other new domains. In the present embodiment, a rank for ClickHereForSearch.com may be calculated based not only on the contribution from the mature domains, Yahoo.com, MSN.com, and CNN.com, but also on a rank of SearchesRus.com, which was calculated based only on ranks of its mature contributing domains, ABC.com, Harvard.edu, and USPS.com.

[0037]In further embodiments, instead of identifying each contributing domain as either a mature or immature domain to determine its contribution to a target domain’s rank, each contributing domain’s maturity (e.g., the age of each contributing domain) may be used to determine the extent of the contributing domain’s contribution to the target domain’s rank. In other words, a target domain’s rank may be calculated based in part on a fraction of ranks of contributing domains associated with the domain. The fraction of each contributing domain’s rank used to determine the target domain’s rank corresponds to the maturity (e.g., age) of the contributing domain. For example, in an embodiment, domains that have been registered for more than ten years may contribute 100% of their accumulated ranks to a target domain’s rank; domains that have been registered from six to ten years may contribute 75% of their accumulated ranks to a target domain’s rank; domains that have been registered from three to six years may contribute 50% of their accumulated ranks to a target domain’s rank; domains that have been registered for one to three years may contribute 25% of their accumulated ranks to a target domain’s rank; and domains that have been registered for less than one year may only contribute 10% of their accumulated ranks.

[0038]Referring again to ClickHereForSearch.com example, suppose that Yahoo.com has been registered for more than ten years; CNN.com has been registered for seven years; MSN.com has been registered for four years; and SearchesRus.com has been registered for less than one year. The rank for ClickHereForSearch.com may be calculated based on 100% of the accumulated rank for Yahoo.com, 75% of the accumulated rank for CNN.com, 50% of the accumulated rank for MSN.com, and 10% of the accumulated rank for SearchesRus.com.

Exemplary Methods

[0039]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 400 for ranking a domain in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. At block 402, contributing domains associated with a target domain are determined. Typically, the contributing domains are a set of domains that include one or more links to the target domain. As indicated above, in some embodiments, the search engine 208 periodically crawls the source devices, such as the source device 204, and collects new domain information and updates existing domain information. Such information may be used to identify contributing domains associated with the target domain.

[0040]At block 404, the maturity for each of the contributing domains associated with the target domain is determined. In general, a maturity of a domain is determined based on how long the domain has been known to exist. Typically, a maturity of a domain is determined based on the date that the domain was registered or the date that the domain was first discovered by a search engine (e.g., if the registration date cannot be ascertained).

[0041]As indicated above, in some embodiments, one or more of the contributing domains are identified as mature domains based on the maturity of the contributing domains. For example, all domains that were registered more than a year ago may be defined as mature domains. Similarly, in some embodiments, one or more of the contributing domains are determined to be immature domains based on the maturity of the contributing domains. For example, all domains that were registered or discovered for the first time by a search engine less than a year ago may be determined to be immature. In some embodiments, a maturity of a domain is reset if the domain expires or if the domain is swapped. Domain registration is typically based on year-to-year basis. Domain owners are required to pay an annual fee for keeping their domains. Domains will expire if the annual fees are not paid. Expired domains can, thereafter, be purchased by different owners. Spammers may purchase a block of domains that have been expired as well as new domains to form a Web Farm. Domain swapping occurs when domain users trade their domains. Spammers may take advantage of swapping by swapping their domains for domains that have not been tainted. Spammers may be further prevented from escaping preventive measures based on maturity of domains by resetting the maturity of the domains that have expired or have been swapped.

[0042]At block 406, a rank for the target domain is calculated. As indicated above, in some embodiments, only mature contributing domains are used to calculate the rank for the target domain. In other words, only contributing domains that have been identified as mature domains by meeting a predetermined minimum period of existence may contribute to the rank of the target domain. For example, suppose that a spammer purchases one hundred domains and has each of the one hundred domains include links to the remaining ninety nine domains. This extensive interlinking would typically afford each of the one hundred domains a potential to receive a high rank based on the number of domains that include a link thereto even though all one hundred of the domains may be less than a month old. However, the present embodiment prevents these contributing domains that have not been registered for more than a minimum period of time to qualify as mature domains. Accordingly, by not qualifying as mature domains in some embodiments, each of the one hundred spam domains may be successfully stopped from contributing ranks to the remaining ninety nine spam domain accumulating ranks.

[0043]In other embodiments, the target domain’s rank may be determined based on both mature contributing domains and immature contributing domains. However, in such embodiment, immature contributing domains contribute to the target domain’s rank only to the extent that the immature contributing domains have received rank from mature domains associated with the immature domains. For example, suppose that a mature domain is defined as a domain that has been registered for more than six months without being expired or swapped and that a target domain called ChildrensWorld.com is linked to by two other domains, ToysRus.com and NewToyCompany.com. NewToyCompany.com is a new domain that was registered less than a month ago, but is linked to by two mature domains, Kmart.com and Target.com, in addition to other newer domains. A rank for the target domain may be calculated based on a rank of NewToyCompany.com, which was calculated based only on ranks of the two mature contributing domains, Kmart.com and Target.com, in addition to the rank of ToysRus.com, which is a mature domain.

[0044]In further embodiments, the target domain’s rank is determined not by identifying mature and immature contributing domains, but by determining the extent of a contributing domain’s contribution based on its maturity. Such embodiments provide a sliding scale approach based on contributing domain maturity. In such embodiments, a fraction may be determined for each contributing domain based on its maturity and applied to determine that respective contributing domain’s contribution to the target domain’s rank. For example, contributing domains that have been registered for a longer period of time (i.e., have a greater maturity) may contribute more to a target domain’s rank than contributing domains that have been registered for a shorter period of time (i.e., have a lesser maturity).

[0045]FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 500 for presenting search results in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. At block 502, a search query is received at a search engine, such as the search engine 208 of FIG. 2, from a client device, such as the client device 202 of FIG. 2. At block 504, one or more search results are determined for the search query using domains that have been previously received or collected and stored in a database, such as the database 308 of FIG. 3. For example, the search engine may search the database and select one or more domains stored therein that match the search query.

[0046]At block 506, a search results user interface is generated using domain rankings to determine an order for the search results. For example, the search results may be presented with the higher ranked domains at the top such that users would see more reliable and/or popular domains first. Typically, ranks for the domains have already been determined and stored in the database prior to being used for ordering the search results. The domain rankings may have been generated in a manner similar to the embodiments described hereinabove with reference to FIG. 4. The search result user interface is then communicated from the search engine to the client device for presentation on the client device, as shown at block 508. Advantageously, the present invention’s approaches to ranking domains may be used to assist search engines to rank domains in accordance with the popularity and utility of the domains while preventing spam domains from earning undeservedly high ranks.

CONCLUSION

[0047]Embodiments of the present invention relate to, among other things, ranking a domain. One or more contributing domains associated with a target domain are identified and the maturity of the contributing domains is determined. By way of example only and not limitation, the maturity of a contributing domain may be determined based on the date that it was registered or the date that it was first discovered by a search engine. In turn, the maturity of the contributing domains may be used to calculate a rank for the target domain.

[0048]The present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments, which are intended in all respects to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from its scope.

[0049]From the foregoing, it will be seen that this invention is one well adapted to attain all the ends and objects set forth above, together with other advantages which are obvious and inherent to the system and method. It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of the claims.

Here are the main points:

Test the move process by moving the contents of one directory or subdomain first. Then use a 301 Redirect to permanently redirect those pages on your old site to your new site. This tells Google and other search engines that your site has permanently moved.

Once this is complete, check to see that the pages on your new site are appearing in Google’s search results. When you’re satisfied that the move is working correctly, you can move your entire site. Do not do a blanket redirect directing all traffic from your old site to your new home page. This will avoid 404 errors, but it’s not a good user experience. A page-to-page redirect (where each page on the old site gets redirected to The corresponding page on the new site) is more work, but gives your users a consistent and transparent experience. If there will not be a 1:1 match between pages on your old and new site, try to make sure that every page on your old site is at least redirected to a new page with similar content.

If you’re changing your domain Because of site rebranding or redesign, you might want to think about doing this in two phases: first, move your site, and second, launch your redesign. This manages the amount of change your users see at any stage in the process, and can make the process seem smoother. Keeping the variables to a minimum also makes it easier to troubleshoot unexpected behavior.

Check both external and internal links to pages on your site. Ideally, you should contact the webmaster of each site that links to yours and ask them to update the links to point to the page on your new domain. If this is not practical, make sure that all pages with incoming links are redirected to your new site. You should also check internal links within your old site, and update them to point to your new domain. Once your content is in place on your new server, use a link checker like Xenu to make sure you do not have broken legacy links on your site. This is especially important if your original content included absolute links (like www.example.com / cooking / recipes / chocolate.html) instead of relative links (like … / recipes / chocolate.html).
To prevent confusion, it’s best to make sure you retain control of your old site domain for at least 180 days.

Add your new site to your Webmaster Tools account, and verify your ownership of it. Then create and submit a Sitemap listing the URLs on your new site. This tells Google that your content is now available on your new site, and that we should go and crawl it.

Finally, keep both your new and old site verified in Webmaster Tools, and review crawl errors regularly to make sure that the 301s from the old site are working properly, and that the new site is not showing unwanted 404 errors.

We’ll admit it, moving is never easy – but these steps should help ensure that none of your good web reputation falls off the truck in the process.

HTML Tag Chart

Tag

Name

Code
Example

Browser
View <!– comment <!–This can be
viewed in the HTML part of a document–> Nothing will show <A - anchor <A HREF=”http://www.yourdomain.com/”>Visit
Our Site</A> Visit
Our Site <B> bold <B>Example</B> Example <BIG> big (text) <BIG>Example</BIG> Example <BODY> body of document <BODY>The content
of your page</BODY> Contents of your webpage <BR> line break The contents of your page<BR>The
contents of your page The contents of your page

The contents of your page <CENTER> center <CENTER>This will
center your contents</CENTER>

This will
center your contents <DD> definition description <DL>

<DT>Definition Term
<DD>Definition of the term

<DT>Definition Term

<DD>Definition of the term

</DL>

Definition Term

Definition of the term

Definition Term

Definition of the term

WordPress SEO Tip #20  Don’t Block the Search Engines!

First and foremost: make sure you’re not inadvertently telling the search engines to go away! Believe it or not, some WordPress installations block the search engine bots by default.

From your admin panel, go to Options > Privacy and make sure its set to I would like my blog to be visible to everyone.
Bonus Tip #1 – Are Comments Enabled?

Some WordPress users restrict comments to registered users, or disable them entirely. While this may be appropriate in some situations, in most cases comments are a very beneficial factor, and a defining mark, of a blog.

Comments engage your readers, help you get more fresh content SEO brownie points, and give search engines another reason to come back frequently.

Here’s how to fully enable comments:

1. Login to the WordPress administration center
2. Click Options on the menu bar
3. Is Users must be registered and logged in to comment checked? If so, consider unchecking it.
4. Click Discussion on the submenu bar
5. Make sure the following are checked: Allow people to post comments on the article and Allow link notifications from other Weblogs (pingbacks and trackbacks.)

WordPress SEO Tip #19  Does Your Blog Have a Topic?

Some of us would prefer to have a blog where we talk about anything that comes to mind: cars, movies, photosynthesis, dust mites, you name it.

In and of itself, such a blogging style isnt wrong; however, you can leave search engines clueless as to what your blogs about and thus for what search queries your blog should appear. And some of your readers might get annoyed in the process as well.
WordPress SEO Tip #18  Ensure URL Canonicalization

If your blog posts are accessible from more than one URL, you could end up with:

* Search engines confused as to which URL to display in the SERPs.
* PageRank split between multiple pages.
* Duplicate content penalties.

Starting with version 2.3, WordPress takes care of this and makes sure your content is accessible from only one place. So if you use an older version, either upgrade to the latest version of WordPress.
WordPress SEO Tip #17  Check for Valid XHTML

Most code errors are minor, but the more serious ones can cause content misinterpretation by search engines, lower rankings, and rendering errors.

WordPress itself produces valid code, but errors can crop up from two other common sources:

* Poorly written plugins or themes
* User-created coding errors (in the blog posts themselves, or through theme customizations)

First check your site for errors. If an error is found, look at the surrounding content to determine the source of the error.

If a plugin is the culprit, fix it if you’re good at that sort of thing (the beauty of open source!), or send a quick email to the plugin developer and let him or her know.
WordPress SEO Tip #16 – Don’t Leech Link Juice!

One characteristic of WordPress blogs is the sidebar, which is typically present on every single page. Do you really need to be passing link juice from every single one of your pages to every single one of those links? If the answer is no, consider adding rel=nofollow to the less important ones.
WordPress SEO Tip #15  Use Images in Your Posts

Not only do they increase visitor attention and retention, they give you an opportunity to use keyword-rich alt attributes, title attributes, and filenames. Plus it’ll give your blog visibility in image search engines.
WordPress SEO Tip #14  Does Your Theme Use Header Tags Correctly?

* The blog title, or your main keyword should be in an <h1> tag.
* If your subtitle is keyword-rich, you can put it in an <h2>; otherwise I recommend putting it in a non-header tag like <div>.
* The post titles should go in <h2> tags.
* Sidebar section titles should be <h3> tag or non-header.

Unfortunately, some themes (including the WordPress Default Theme) put the sidebar section titles in <h2> tags. Although this makes sense from a strict structural point of view, it also gives irrelevant sidebar headers (Categories, Archives, Meta, etc.) equal weight with your SEO-important post titles.

To sum it up: Use a theme that utilizes header-tags properly, or try fixing the theme you have.
WordPress SEO Tip #13  Use Pinging

A ping is a this site has new content notification that invites bots to visit your blog.

WordPress pings one website called Ping-o-matic by default, which in turn pings others. You can also add additional services by going to Options > Writing in the admin panel. (For example, the pinging URL for Google Blog Search is http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2)

Another Bonus Tip: Once a post is published, WordPress issues pings whenever the post is edited. Try to cut down on after-publishing edits to avoid being considered a ping spammer.
WordPress SEO Tip #12  Install the Google XML Sitemaps Generator Plugin

XML Sitemaps are search-engine-friendly directories of your blogs posts and other pages intended to help search engines spider your site. Though pioneered by Google, theyre supported by Yahoo, MSN, and Ask.com as well.

The Google XML Sitemaps Generator for WordPress makes creation of these sitemaps easy and automatic. It also lets the engines know when you post new content.
WordPress SEO Tip #11  Avoid Sponsored Themes

There was a debate in the WordPress community not too long ago on the topic of sponsered themes. These themes include paid links (usually in the footer) than can suck PageRank and possibly result in a Google paid links penalty.

Stick with WordPress theme directories that dont include sponsored themes, like the WordPress Theme Viewer.
Bonus Tip #2  Write Right Post Titles

SEO isnt everything: once youre high in the SERPs, you need action words to prompt clickthroughs.

Put keywords in your title if at all possible, but not if it’ll compromise the click-trigger action title.
WordPress SEO Tip #10  Use Traditional SEO Techniques

A WordPress blog is a website too, so the traditional SEO techniques still apply:

* Use important keywords in the title and throughout the post, but don’t overdo it.
* Bold your keywords when it makes sense.
* Develop links to your blog.

WordPress SEO Tip #9  Use the Power of the Slug

Ever wondered what the Post Slug on the Write page was? Its the text that goes in the URL when you have Pretty Permalinks enabled (see tip #2).

By default the slug is a sanitized version of the post title. However, if your title is overly long or keyword-sparse, you can change the slug through the Post Slug box.

Yet Another Bonus Tip: The SEO Slugs plugin can take out common words like you, is, etc. out of the slug for you automatically.
WordPress SEO Tip #8  Use Timestamping to Stagger Fresh Content

Search engines and visitors love fresh blog content on a steady, regular basis. But for a lot of us, creativity comes irregularly: 10 post ideas one week, none the next.

Enter timestamping. When writing a post, click the plus sign next to Post Timestamp. Set a date and time, and the post will publish by itself whenever you specify.

Search engines will keep coming back, and visitors wont be inundated with a ton of new posts all at once.

Hint: If youve timestamped a post, dont click the Publish button, since thatll publish your post immediately regardless of your timestamp. Instead, select Published under Post Status and click the Save button.
WordPress SEO Tip #7  Use Tags for Free Keyword Boosts

WordPress 2.3 and above include a tags feature that lets you assign keywords to your blog posts. Once you start using them, then since each tag gets its own webpage, youll be generating a ton of your own themed, keyword-oriented internal backlink pages.
WordPress SEO Tip #6  Integrate Social Media

Adding social media links/buttons like the ones above makes it easy for visitors to promote your quality content (hint, hint). Social media is a great way to build links naturally as well as drive targeted site traffic.

* Share This is a very popular social media all-in-one plugin.
* If youre a FeedBurner user, you can use FeedFlare to add action links, including social media ones, to the bottom of your posts.

Lots of social media sites provide code you can use to generate buttons like those above. Grab your own code from:

* Digg
* Sphinn
* StumbleUpon
* Mixx
* Scoop

WordPress SEO Tip #5  Implement Deep-Linking

Here are several great ways to implement deep-linking on your WordPress blog:

* Within your posts, link to other posts on your blog and use important keywords in the anchor text.
* Install the Similar Posts plugin, which inserts a list of related posts youve written to the bottom of each of your blog posts. This process will create aged deep links and increase visitor retention.
* Display your most popular posts in your sidebar using the Popularity Contest plugin. Gives your most popular posts tons of internal links, and helps your visitors find your best content.

WordPress SEO Tip #4  Make Scrapers Work to Your Advantage

Most of us would probably be upset if someone used scraping (automated content stealing) to publish our laboriously-written posts as his or her own.

But with a little work, you can make the scrapers work for you, not against you.

Heres how to do it, courtesy of EarnersBlog.com:

If you use WordPress its very easy to take full advantage of these sites linking to you, all you need to do is create links back to your content within your feed.

What youll need for this:

* Cave Monkeys Full Text Feed Plugin
* Solo Technologies Add Related Posts to your Feed Plugin

These plugins simply show your entire post in your feed & also add some related posts in your feed only (which will also increase the amount of people in your feed reading more than 1 post).
Now, everytime anyone scrapes your blog via your RSS feed & republishes it theyll be deep linking to 5 or more of your existing posts. Bingo.

WordPress SEO Tip #3  Install the All-in-One SEO Plugin

Like the name implies, this plugin covers a lot of the bases.

* Puts the blog name after the post title, giving your keyword-rich titles more prominence.
* Allows you to override title and meta tags on your homepage as well as your individual posts.
* Lets you add noindex to your category and/or tag pages to avoid duplicate content.
* And more.

A must-have for serious WordPress SEO.
WordPress SEO Tip #2  Use Pretty Permalinks

Sure, you may already use Pretty Permalinks, but are you using the best possible permalink structure?

For those of who dont use Pretty Permalinks, its a must-do for WordPress SEO. Permalinks, in essence, are the URLs of your WordPress blog posts. Pretty Permalinks put slugs (which should contain keywords  see tip #9) in your URLs instead of the default numbers.

To enable or change them, first login, then go to Options > Permalinks.

The two options you do not want are Default and Numeric. Here are my suggestions for picking a pretty permalink structure:

* Date and Name Based: The problem with this is that your posts are several extra directories deep, which can decrease relevence in some search engines. However, such a permalink structure can nevertheless be desireable if your blog is news-oriented or date-sensitive.
* Post Name Only: If your blog covers one topic that has no subtopics (which, though possible, is unlikely), select Custom and type /%postname%/
* Category Based: If your blog covers multiple topics, implement category-based URLs. (You have to look into the Codex to find information on category-based URLs, so many WordPress users probably dont realize that this option exists!) To implement it, select Custom and type /%category%/%postname%/

WordPress SEO Tip #1  WordPress Secret: Use Category-Based Permalinks for SEO Siloing

Heres the big finale. Problem is, this tip is so important (and lengthy) that it really merits its own post.

Heres a teaser: it entails implementing the powerful siloing technique on your WordPress blog through a combination of plugins, settings, and strategies.
Conclusion

Okay, so it was actually more like 23+ tips instead of 20. I certainly hope you gleaned a useful strategy or two in your quest for WordPress search engine optimization. If you enjoyed this post, please social it, email it, link it, or leave a comment!

If you are like most people, you will spend countless hours trying to build traffic to your website. Did you know that over 80% of website traffic is the result of search engines? If you want to increase the number of visitors to your website it is crucial that you have a top search engine position. As you already know, getting a good search engine ranking is next to impossible without optimization. Just submitting your website to the search engines will not get you a top search engine ranking. You also need to properly optimize your website in order to increase your search engine ranking. Once you have achieved a good search engine position only then will you start to see thousands of  people visiting your website each and every day.

We make it easy to optimize your website for search engine rankings.

What you should not do. . . (spamming the search engines) There are several things, considered “spamming”, that you can do to try to get your page listed higher on a search engine results page. Basically, you should never try to trick a search engine in any way, or you risk being blacklisted by them. Since the majority of your traffic will come from search engines the risk far outweighs the benefits in the long run. Below is a list of the more common things we recommend that you never do when trying
to achieve better listings.

Are you spamming the search engines?

It’s easy to spam an engine by accident — especially since the rules are constantly changing.

Easily make sure all of your pages are spam free with the Submit It! spider. It’ll check each page of your site and let you know if it finds any problems.

Get spam help!

Do not: Do anything to trick the search engines into listing your site better. If what you are doing is not listed as one of our search engine tips the search engines will likely view it as spam and penalize you. List keywords anywhere except in your keywords meta tag. By “list” we mean something like – keyword 1, keyword 2, keyword 3, keyword 4, etc. There are very few legitimate reasons that a list of keywords would actually appear on a web page or within the page’s HTML code and the search engines know this. While you may have a legitimate reason for doing this we would recommend avoiding it so that you do not risk being penalized by the search engines. Use the same color text on your page as the page’s background color. This has often been used to keyword stuff a web page. Search engines can detect this and view it as spam. Use multiple instances of the same tag. For example, using more than one title tag. Search engines can detect this and view it as spam. Submit identical pages. For example, do not duplicate a page of your site, give the copies different file names, and submit each one. Search engines can detect this and view it as spam. Submit the same page to any engine more than once within 24hrs. Use any keywords in your keywords meta tag that do not directly relate to the content of your page.

Over the last two weeks we have been talking about Google every other day. This time it is the Page Rank. Google Juice, Google flux, Back links, all have been jumping around a lot lately. Changes both in Page Rank and back links count numbers have been extremely noticeable.And this morning I wake up and see some of my sites with increased PR. BostonMediaDomain went from a PR0 to a PR2.

I tried to check on Google’s data centers but most of them are behaving strangely (reporting a PR0 even for established websites). One tool that appears to be working is this one.

This is either a new Page Rank push to the Tool bar or it is still some data fluctuations of the old PageRank push.

No one was expecting such an early PageRank update in 2008. The last one, as you probably can remember, happened late in October and it created a lot of buzz due to a new policy that Google decided to adopt towards websites that were selling text links without the nofollow tag.

Some people are arguing that since the PR drop is not generalized, it must be a slap from Google due to practices that conflict with its guidelines. Andy Beard suggested that the sites that got penalized were either selling links or exchanging them inside large blog networks. This is a feasible explanation given that most of the Weblogs, Inc blogs (Engadget above all) were penalized, and they do not sell paid links either.

There is also some activity going on the Digital Point Google forum, which indicate that some change is indeed happening right now.

Keep in mind that we are talking about the toolbar PageRank, that one that you are able to see with your browser. Real PageRanks get updated continuously.

I tried to use some of the prediction and cross datacenters tools to see if the change was trackable from them, but most are not working anymore.

Have you noticed any changes?

There will always be do it yourselfers succeeding at web promotion and search engine optimization. Many established businesses offering web services today came from humble beginnings. The Web evolves as the result of the innovation and experimentation of individuals. The sharing of knowledge. The do it yourself attitude.



As text link brokers and mass link networking decrease in value and use in social media increases, it becomes more important for companies to have an internal approach and awareness of search engine marketing. Outsourcing to SEO firms is still a smart option. Making the most out of Web 2.0 usually requires some level of cooperation between SEO firm and site owner. You don’t need to be an expert to know the basics of good SEO practices, and that added knowledge will be a great advantage whether you’re working along side an SEO team, or promoting your own site in your spare time.

So if you’re on a “need to know” basis with SEO, the following points should show what a plan should include:

1. Create Original Search Engine Friendly Content

Original web content is your most valuable asset, and ensuring search engines can read it is very important. Text embedded in images or Flash cannot be read, so make sure you use important keywords, headings, and hyperlinks in plain text form. Instead of using images as navigation links, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) makes it easy to format those links to look more like ‘buttons’, thus creating powerful anchor text as well as making it visually appealing. Use heading tags properly and don’t try to hide keywords or text by making it the same color as the page background or shrinking it so it can’t be seen. Make sure the keywords you wish to rank high for are used frequently in the page copy but within reason.

Copy and paste a page’s URL into a search engine to see if it has been indexed. If you’ve just created the page, it may take a few days (weeks) to show up. Aside from age, many factors can lead to web pages not being indexed by search engines, such as duplicate content (ie. a printer-friendly version of a page might be indexed and the normal version not, or vice versa); links generated by JavaScript instead of HTML; poor site architecture (ie. using too many sub-directories); lengthy, dynamically generated URLs using special characters; and orphaned pages.

2. Choose Keywords Wisely

One of the first steps of SEO, this needs to be done properly the first time or all your future efforts and promotion could end up being wasted. Start by writing down general terms that describe your products, services or web content. Use keyword research services to investigate word and phrase variations. Wordtracker, KeywordDiscovery, and the Google AdWords suggestion tool are good starting points. The goal is to find those niche phrases that your target market uses to find sites just like yours and optimize your site for them. If the phrases do not get enough use by searchers, your profits from ranking for them will be low. At the same time, stay away from general terms that are tougher to rank for (ie. like “Apartments”, “Computers”, “Business”, etc.) as a great portion of the traffic will be irrelevant and you’ll break the bank attaining such competitive phrases.

3. Get Others to Link to Your Site

In theory there are countless ways, some traditional and some quite innovative, to get other web sites to link to yours. In practice, it can be easier said than done. Google defines a link as it pertains to rankings and SEO as a “vote” from one site to another. The more quality votes your site receives, the greater chance you have of rankings well. If a well established site links to yours, that link carries more weight than one would less reputable page.

If your site has useful content and is doing something unique, you’re already ahead of much of the competition. People need a reason to link to your site, as very few will do it out of the goodness of their heart. Trading links can work, but link exchange networks have decreased in value and won’t be of much use in competitive fields. Buying links, if you haven’t heard, is a big Google no-no. While entire articles could be written on this topic, here are a few popular methods of acquiring incoming links:

- issuing company press releases with a link back to your site
- submitting to reputable business directories such as Yahoo! and Business.com
- be active on related blogs by commenting and exchanging ideas
- if you have clients with web sites, ask if they would mind adding your link in a “partners” section
- participate in relevant forums and discussion boards with a link in your signature
- write and submit original articles to web publications in your field with a link in your bio
- get involved in social media and bookmarking

4. Social Media Revolution

The collaboration between Internet users and the development of online communities is at an all-time high. Social bookmarking sites such as Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Furl, Reddit, and Technorati offer users a way to store their favorite pages and media online, and share it with others. These services also provide a way to promote your own content or create a buzz over a product or service. Creating a Myspace page or Squidoo “lens” is also a way to network and share information.

However, if your goal is to generate sales then you must offer something without the promotional hype. The reality of social media is that popularity is based almost entirely on public interest. If your information or media isn’t unique or of interest to anyone, you cannot force success using social media communities.

The key to using social media and bookmarking sites to your advantage is to not be shy. Network with other users, bookmark and share useful content, create eye-catching titles for your entries, and tell your friends and co-workers to vote on content you have on these sites.

These four points are a general guideline to follow for SEO. Search engine optimization experts and firms are a good outsourcing option in competitive markets, while the DIY attitude can yield great results for web site owners with smaller marketing budgets. If you’re in the latter group, hopefully this helps get you started.

Cowboys.com has been transferred to its new owners, an LLC group that snapped up the domain in the recent Moniker/T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East silent auction for $370,000. That domain was part of a flood of completed auction sales that dominate our new weekly top sellers chart.

By now just about everyone on the planet has heard the Cowboys.com story – Sports Illustrated magazine even wrote about it. It originally looked like the Dallas Cowboys had bought the domain for $275,000 in the Moniker/T.R.A.F.F.I.C. live auction but the NFL team then claimed they thought they were bidding $275 instead of $275,000! So Moniker put the domain back up for sale in a silent auction where the winning group outbid several other new suitors to take the name for $95,000 more than the football team could have had it for just days before. As ESPN’s Chris Berman would say – FUMBLE!!

Sahar Sarid of the Recall Media Group is a member of the LLC that bought Cowboys.com. He invited his fellow co-owners to a party at his South Florida home after the deal was closed and has posted a couple of videos from that event at his Conceptualist.com blog that we think you will enjoy.

To make room for all of the Moniker/T.R.A.F.F.I.C. auction sales we have expanded our usual Top 20 chart to 50 positions this week. Names from the auction occupy 33 of those openings, including the top four and nine of the first ten. That group included three more six-figure sales; CrosswordPuzzles.com ($210,000), CriminalLawyers.com ($195,000) and CaribbeanVacations.com ($130,000). Moniker also sold a two-domain lot that included SinglesOnline.com and SolterosEnlinea.com for $125,000.

Kaddish for a Cowgirl^*

• First Publication:
  The Jewish Free Press, Calgary, July 4, 2002, pp. 10-11.
• Bibliography:
  • Earp, Josephine Sarah Marcus, and Glenn G. Boyer. I Married Wyatt Earp: The Recollections of Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press, 1976.
  • Marcus, Jacob Rader. United States Jewry, 1776-1985. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1989.
  • Rochlin, Harriet, and Fred Rochlin. Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984.
  • Schoener, Allon. The American Jewish Album: 1654 to the Present. New York: Rizzoli, 1983.

In a Jewish graveyard in California lies one of the legendary gunfighters of the Wild West

This is not meant to imply that Wyatt Earp was Jewish. The interment of his earthly remains (he was in fact most un-Jewishly cremated) in the Hills of Eternity cemetery in Colma was at the request of his widow, who was one of the more colourful personalities of the American frontier.

As is often the case with cowboy sagas, the precise details of Josie Marcus Earp’s life are difficult to untangle from the many embellishments that grew up around them. The biographer’s task is further complicated by the fact that a supposed autobiography entitled I Married Wyatt Earp was to a large extent a work of creative fiction.

At any rate, there is some consensus about the main outlines of her life story. Josephine Sarah Marcus was born in 1861 in New York city to a family of Jewish immigrants from Germany who transplanted themselves to San Francisco when Josie was six years of age. The Marcus family was traditionally observant, and Josie was given elementary training in the Hebrew prayers.

In those years of the Gold Rush and westward expansion, the attractions of the frontiers could be more powerful than those of the family hearth, and Josie left home at the age of eighteen, to enlist in a traveling theatre troupe that she had seen performing the “H.M.S. Pinafore.”

Eventually the company found its way to Tombstone, Arizona, where Josie moved in with Johnny Behan, a disreputable cowboy.

In Tombstone, Josie first made the acquaintance of another distinguished resident of the town, Wyatt Earp, who was employed at the time as an armed guard for the Wells Fargo company (and possibly as a deputy U. S. Marshall), in addition to his partnership in a local saloon.

Earp and Behan were political adversaries in the 1881 elections for Sheriff of Tombstone. They were also rivals for the heart of Josie Marcus. Behan emerged victorious in the election, but it was Earp who won the lady’s affections. Although Earp already had a wife (his second), he now married Josie, and their marriage endured for fifty years, until his death.

According to some historians, the romantic rivalry was one of the factors that led to the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral, as Behan hired a gang of thugs to eliminate his adversary.

When the shooting began, Josie heard the gunfire from her house. Aware that a showdown was being planned, she hitched a ride on a passing wagon, and hurried to the corral. She was relieved to find that her spouse was only slightly wounded.

Like a modest Jewish wife, she later recalled how she had been worried about what people would think of her after she had dashed out without a bonnet!

In 1882, Wyatt and Josie left Tombstone in pursuit of riches and adventure, and to avoid criminal prosecution for the carnage at the OK Corral or in the various acts of retaliation that followed in its wake. He was assisted by a Jewish banker named H. Solomon who offered to pay his bail, and supplied him and his companions with arms. Wyatt was never actually indicted by a court of law.

The Earps’ travels brought them to many of the new towns that were sprouting up like weeds in the course of the Gold Rush, in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and even as far as Alaska. The Earps invested in the mines and real estate, as well as in saloons, and became quite wealthy through their enterprises. For a brief period they returned to the Jewish ambiance of Josie’s family home in San Francisco.

Wyatt’s last years were spent in Los Angeles in virtual respectability living off the proceeds of their racehorses, oil, real estate speculation and other types of gambling.

The legendary gunslinger was able to make it in Hollywood society, and even served as an advisor for some cowboy films that were produced there. This provided Wyatt and Josie an ample opportunity to shape his own legend, a task that Josie continued after her husband’s demise.

And so, in 1929, at the age of eighty, the hero of the OK Corral died peacefully in Los Angeles. His ashes were buried at the Marcus family plot in the Little Hills of Eternity Jewish cemetery in Colma, California, where he would be joined in 1944 by Josie herself.

From this brief survey of the exploits and adventures of Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp, it becomes undeniably clear that this adventurous JewishCowGirl.com from New York was no less a celebrity of the Wild West than her more famous partner. “Long live her name, and long live her glory, and long may her story be told.”