#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

The  Periodic  Table  Of    SEO  Ranking  Factors:  2015  Edi>on  

MARCUS  TOBER    

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

     Founder  and  CTO  of                                              Searchmetrics  

In  love  with  SEO  and  search                                                              since  2001  

Study  of  computer  science  in  Berlin,  so  I‘m  the  techie!    

MARCUS  TOBER  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

 Made  with  love  in  Berlin  

 180  passionate  people  

Innovator  in  SEO  SoMware  &  more  since  2005  

San  Mateo              London                        Paris  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

2015  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Correla<on  ≠  Causa<on  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Correla>on  vs  Averages 𝜌↓2014 =0.00

𝜌↓2015 =0.00

Ø  =  96%  

Ø  =  20%  

Share  /  Co

unt  o

f…  

Ranking  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

ROADS?

Where we‘re going, we don‘t need Roads.

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Number  of  Backlinks

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Desktop 2015 Desktop 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2014 =0.31

𝜌↓2015 =0.28

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Backlinks  with  Keyword/  anchor

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Desktop 2015 Desktop 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2014 =0.17

𝜌↓2015 =0.17

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Backlinks  with  anchor  =        Domain  Name

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Desktop 2015 Desktop 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2014 =0.16

𝜌↓2015 =0.16

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Backlinks  from  News  Sites  *to  Homepage  of  URL

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Desktop 2015 Desktop 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2014 =0.20

𝜌↓2015 =0.22

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Keyword  in  External  Link

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Desktop 2015 Desktop 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2014 =0.11

𝜌↓2015 =0.03

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Keyword  in  Domain  Name

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Desktop 2015 Desktop 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2014 =−0.02

𝜌↓2015 =−0.02

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober KEYW

ORD  

2015  Machine  Learning  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Filesize

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Desktop 2015 Desktop 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2014 =0.15

𝜌↓2015 =0.15

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Flesch  Readability

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Desktop 2015 Desktop 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2014 =0.00

𝜌↓2015 =0.02

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

AdSense

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Desktop 2015 Desktop 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2014 =−0.03

𝜌↓2015 =−0.03

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Word  Count

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Desktop 2015 Desktop 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2014 =0.13

𝜌↓2015 =0.07

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Number  of  Images

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Desktop 2015 Desktop 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2014 =0.05

𝜌↓2015 =0.04

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Video  Integra>on

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

7%

8%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Desktop 2015 Desktop 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2014 =0.05

𝜌↓2015 =0.07

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Proof  Terms

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

90%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Desktop 2015 Desktop 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2015 =0.03 Ø  =  78%  (same  for  2014/  2015)  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Relevant  Terms

35%

40%

45%

50%

55%

60%

65%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Desktop 2015 Desktop 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2015 =0.15

Ø2015  =  51%  

Ø2014  =  49%  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Seman>c  Content  Op>miza>on  It  is  all  about  the  consumer  intent  and  not  keywords  anymore  

Basis:  Searchmetrics  Suite  –  Feature:  „Content  Op>miza>on“  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Content  be  good!  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Presence  of  Unordered  Lists

62%

64%

66%

68%

70%

72%

74%

76%

78%

80%

82%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

2015

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2015 =0.08

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Number  of  Interac>ve  Elements

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

2015

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2015 =0.08

Menus,  Bubons,  etc.  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

hbps

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Desktop 2015

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓2015 =0.05

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

What  about  MOBILE? RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  MOBILE  

Mobile   Desktop  ≠  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Number  of  Backlinks

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Mobile Desktop

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 =0.28

𝜌↓𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 =0.11

MOBILE  

ØDesktop  =  2.500  

ØMobile  =  1.300  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Doc,  what  if  I  tell  you  there  will  be  linkless  rankings  in  

the  future???  

Great  Scob,  Marty!  

LINKS?

Where we‘re going, we don‘t need LINKS.

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Crea<ng  Links  via  Smartphone?  

Have  you  seen/done  this?  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Number  of  Internal  Links

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Mobile Desktop

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 =0.09

𝜌↓𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 =0.03

MOBILE  

ØDesktop  =  132  

ØMobile  =  81  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Filesize

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Mobile Desktop

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 =0.15

𝜌↓𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 =0.08

MOBILE  

ØDesktop  =  ~22.000  

ØMobile  =  ~18.000  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Max.  Size  of  Image  on  the  Page

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

800000

900000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Mobile

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 =−0.06

MOBILE  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Keyword  in  Title

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Mobile Desktop

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 =0.00

𝜌↓𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 =−0.02

MOBILE  

ØDesktop  =  76%  

ØMobile  =  60%  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Keywords  in  Body

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Mobile Desktop

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 =0.07

𝜌↓𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 =0.01

MOBILE  

ØDesktop  =  11  

ØMobile  =  7  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Keyword Police

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Word  Count

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Mobile Desktop

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 =0.07

𝜌↓𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 =0.01

MOBILE  

ØDesktop  =  1.140  

ØMobile  =  775  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Google+  (+1)

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Mobile Desktop

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 =0.31

𝜌↓𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 =0.22

MOBILE  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Pinterest  (Pins)

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Mobile Desktop

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 =0.23

𝜌↓𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 =0.13

MOBILE  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Search Results are Different Depending on Context

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

“#Mobilegeddon“  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

71%

68%

29%

32%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

After

Before

mobile-friendly

not mobile-friendly

*Basis: Searchmetrics Research Cloud SERPs 1-3

Share  of  Mobile-­‐Friendly  URLs  

Mobilegeddon, April 21st, 2015

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Share  of  not  Mobile-­‐Friendly  URLs  

27%

26%

36%

30%

29%

37%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

SERP 3

SERP 2

SERP 1

Before After

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Share  of  Mobile-­‐Friendly  URLs

64%

66%

68%

70%

72%

74%

76%

78%

80%

82%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

POST Mobilegeddon PRE Mobilegeddon

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓𝑃𝑂𝑆𝑇 =0.00

𝜌↓𝑃𝑅𝐸 =0.01

MOBILE  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Average  Posi>on  Change  of  URLs  

-­‐0,21  +0,20  

not mobile-friendly mobile-friendly

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Redirect

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

POST Mobilegeddon PRE Mobilegeddon

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓𝑃𝑂𝑆𝑇 =−0.04

𝜌↓𝑃𝑅𝐸 =−0.07

MOBILE  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Ø  Font  Size  En>re  Page

14.00

14.20

14.40

14.60

14.80

15.00

15.20

15.40

15.60

15.80

16.00

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

POST Mobilegeddon PRE Mobilegeddon

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓𝑃𝑂𝑆𝑇 =0.03

𝜌↓𝑃𝑅𝐸 =0.02

MOBILE  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Has  Flash

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

POST Mobilegeddon PRE Mobilegeddon Mobile 2014

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  MOBILE  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Has  Flash

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

POST Mobilegeddon PRE Mobilegeddon Mobile 2014 Desktop 2015

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  MOBILE  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

Ø  hbps

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

POST Mobilegeddon PRE Mobilegeddon

RANKING  FACTORS  

2015  

𝜌↓𝑃𝑂𝑆𝑇 =0.01

𝜌↓𝑃𝑅𝐸 =0.03

MOBILE  

#SMX #11a @MarcusTober

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