Date post: | 29-Nov-2014 |
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Algorithm Chaos
@RyanJonesManager, SEO & Analytics – SapientNitrowww.RyanMJones.com
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“We make over 500 changes to our algorithms
[each] year”
- Matt Cutts
How can we keep up with the ever-changing SEO algorithms?
@RyanJones
PandaPenguin
EMDHummingBird
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“We cannot solve our problems with the same
thinking we used when we created them”
- Albert Einstein
Think Different. (about the algorithms)
@RyanJones
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“al·go·rithm
ˈalgəˌriT1Həm/
noun
noun: algorithm; plural noun: algorithms
1.
a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other
problem-solving operations, esp. by a computer.
The Algorithm Has Evolved
@RyanJones
Everybody’s 2nd Favorite Formulas
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Dynamic Weighting
@RyanJones
Algorithm Factors & weights are dependent upon the result set (corpus)
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Dynamic Weighting
@RyanJones
When the corpus changes, so does the importance of various factors.
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My Theory: It actually is brain science
A
@RyanJones
- A “simple” neural network
Something to Think About:Neural networks Require Training Sets• Human Quality Raters• Panda• Penguin• Matt’s latest call for “good sites that should rank
higher”
There’s Two Theories of SEO
@RyanJones
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Type 1: Storm chasers
The Algorithm Chaser / Reverse Engineer.
@RyanJones
“This is how SEO used to be, many years ago. It
used to work very well.”
Analyze, Measure, Correlate, Examine, Interpret, & Follow top ranking sites.
Try to figure out the factors that top sites have in common and emulate them.
Sometimes The Tail wags the dog.
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Type 2: Storm Predictors
Pay attention to where the algorithm is heading
@RyanJones“We sometimes call these SEOs Google fan-boys. ”
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10,000 foot view
Focuses on “What” rather than “How”
@RyanJones
Google wants to rank Quality, Useful sites. Ok, how
can I make my site more useful?
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Let’s Talk About Hummingbird
@RyanJones Source: soyunhamster.deviantart.com
Hummingbird Changes The Algorithm Focus
OLD: Show most popular results that actually contain “keyword”
NEW: Show the most useful and popular results for “what the user means”
Algorithm MythsLet’s Change How We Think About Search Algorithms
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Myth 1: The Algorithm is a Static Formula
It’s Not. Get Over It.
Ranking Factors differ by query & corpus
@RyanJones
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Myth 2: Google Has a Brand Bias
Customers
favor brands
Google favors what customers favor.
@RyanJones
Source: google consumer surveys.Question : “where would you buy a flat screen TV”
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How do you determine if something is a brand?
Hint: Not this way: (in_array($knownBrands,$URL))? $ranking++ : $ranking--;
Google doesn’t check against a list of brands.
Trust. Authority. Popularity
@RyanJonesNote: yeah, I know Google uses python, not PHP. Here’s python. Happy?ranking += 1 If url in brandarray else ranking -= 1
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Myth 3: Altering vs. Ordering
Some factors alter the SERP corpus. Others simply order it.
@RyanJones
Alter (included or not?) Order (ranking)
Device Type Pagerank
Location Page Speed
Relevance (tf-idf?)
Some factors may do both. E.G. personalization, QDF, manual penalties.
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Myth 4: Rankings changes only hurt people.
For every site that loses rankings, another one gains.
(although, to be fair, sometimes that “other” site is Google)
@RyanJones
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Myth 5: Rankings dropped, I got penalized.
If you just dropped a couple spots, you weren’t penalized.
If you fall out of the search results completely, that’s a penalty.
@RyanJones
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Myth 6: Social Signals Are Super Important
Social Signals Are Important, But Not For Rankings
Google has said they don’t use Facebook or Twitter signals in rankings, and are still evaluating plusses/likes.
@RyanJones
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Let’s Talk About Correlation
@RyanJones
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”- Inigo Montoya
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Some Fun Correlations
@RyanJones
Sometimes, the “hidden factor” is simply just Time.
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Example Correlations
@RyanJones
• Ice Cream Sales are highly correlated with crime.
• Number of Facebook Users correlates to the national debt.
• In children under 3, vocabulary and shoe size have a correlation coefficient of 1.0
• One SEO study actually claimed having a keyword optimized title tag is highly correlated with manual webspam penalties
Source: xkcd.com
Hidden Factors:• Heat / Weather• Time• Spammers do keyword research – more than the general web.
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SEO correlations have hidden factors too!
• Plusses / Facebook likes are correlated to rankings
• But people can’t plus/like what they can’t find. (e.g. rankings came first)
• Let’s better understand correlation coefficients too!
• Anything under .6/.7 is pretty scattered.
Full Circle: Perhaps study values are so low because factors
vary based on the result sets?
@RyanJones
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Tips For Surviving Algorithm Changes
• Don’t chase algorithms, chase the reasons for the algorithms.
• Understand why the algorithm changes were made
• Focus less on ranking factors and more on why they are factors.
• Be a Brand. Do what brands do. Build Quality, Trust, Authority. Goal: If your site isn’t ranking, customers should think that Google is broken.
• Don’t Ask: “how do I rank for ___” Ask: “What do people searching ___ want to see?” @RyanJones
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@RyanJonesManager, SEO & Analyticswww.RyanMJones.com
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