Post on 21-Apr-2017
transcript
Cool SERP, bro!
SERPs aren’t as easy to backsolve
5
Hummingbird – it’s a new engine
So how do we interpret studies like
this?
Does this mean rankings are all about getting
Google +1s?
These are hints. Not ranking factors.
Read: Correlation does not equal causation
“Correlation does not imply causation”
Edward Tufte says this is
better:
"Correlation is not
causation but it sure is a
hint."
Cyrus has a great ranking factors deck:
http://www.slideshare.net/cyrusshepard
Links?
"I think backlinks still have many, many years left
in them," he said. "But inevitably what we're trying
to do is figure out how an expert user would say
this particular page matched their information
needs. And sometimes backlinks matter for that."
Links = very much alive.*http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2343363/Matt-Cutts-Google-Wont-Devalue-Links-
Anytime-Soon
External Anchor Texthttp://moz.com/rand/imec-lab/
Competitive
phrases are
tougher to move,
but still hold up
in testing.
Internal Anchor Texthttp://www.greenlaneseo.com/blog/2014/01/old-school-seo-tests-action/
Keyword strings in titles, METAs, etc.
Mark up ALL THE THINGS?
“Absolute Rankings”
“Rankings are part of my
reporting, but near the
back now”
“Rankings will be dead
within one year”
“I still report rankings,
but as a composite
metric. Not individual
rankings.”
Entity-based optimization
http://www.seobythesea.com/2014/01/entity-
associations-websites-related-entities/
http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/knowledge-
graph-optimization
Localized organic results
Takeaway: All the search engines are
building for the mobile future.
Google’s move to Local KG
Takeaway: Hummingbird requires us
to test SEO assumptions.http://webmeup.com/blog/seo-experiments.html
Takeaway: Optimize content around
entities and relationships.
Takeaway: Every site has its own set
of success factors