Visibility_14: The Search (R)Evolution

The Search (R)EvolutionRanking Factors after Hummingbird, the Panda Update and the Future of Search

2014

MARCUS TOBER07/17/2014

Chicago

Marcus Tober

Once upon a time…

SEO

SEO

Censored

2014SEO

Differences of URLs from #1 to #30?

Correlation ≠ Causation

2014 Edition

IRON MAN

RANKING

Techniques Content

RANKING FACTORS 2014

RANKING FACTORS 2014vs 2013

Content/Technics

Social

OnPage TECHNIQUES

TECHNICAL ELEMENTSRANKING FACTORS

2014

vs 2013TECHNICAL ELEMENTS

RANKING FACTORS

2014

35 www.searchmetrics.com 04/11/2023

~98%𝜌2014=0.05

Description existing


~95%𝜌2013=0.06

𝜌2014=0.05

Description existingvs 2013

~98%


Sitespeed

𝜌2014=0.14


Sitespeedvs 2013

𝜌2014=0.14


Brand Factor

𝜌2014=0.16

Number of internal Links


Number of internal Links

Less is More!

What‘s even more important?

What‘s inside!

CONTENT

CONTENT ELEMENTSRANKING FACTORS

2014

vs 2013CONTENT ELEMENTS

RANKING FACTORS

2014


Keyword in Description

~7.500𝜌2014=0.13

Brand Factor

~55%𝜌2014=0.01


𝜌2013=0.02

Keyword in Descriptionvs 2013

~55%𝜌2014=0.01

~62%


Brand Factor

~7.500𝜌2014=0.13

Text Length in Characters


~6.700𝜌2013=0.11

Text Length in Charactersvs 2013

~7.500𝜌2014=0.13


Brand Factor

~650𝜌2014=0.13

Word Count


~540𝜌2013=0.11

vs 2013Word Count

~650𝜌2014=0.13

„precise and fast“

GOOGLE HUMMINGBIRD UPDATE

Contextual Search

ConversationalSearch

Semantic Search

04/11/202359 www.searchmetrics.com

ContextualSearch1.


Content Complexity and Quality – NEW 2014

Pretty high correlations!


2014


Increasing


2014vs 2013Content Complexity and Quality


Correlation𝜌2014=0.34

Relevant Keywords/ Terms

𝜌2014=0.20


Proof Keywords/ Terms

Correlation


„You shall know a keyword by the company it keeps”(Firth, 1957)

What’s behind?RANKING FACTORS

2014

Source: Google


What’s behind?RANKING FACTORS

2014

Proof KW

Relevant KW

Content Optimization





75 04/11/2023www.searchmetrics.com

Aggregators (few/ no own Content)

• Couponing

• Press Portals

• Celebrity News Pages

• Software Portals

• Forums

• Etc…

Google Panda Update 4.0

There are no tips and nothing the user expected on the page. Why should it rank?

ConversationalSearch2.

Page 81

Hummingbird – Conversational Search

04/11/2023 ® Searchmetrics Inc. 2014 │

Android Chrome Glass

MOBILE

vs

DESKTOPMOBILE


MOBILE

vs

DESKTOP

Sitespeed


MOBILE

vs

DESKTOP

Filesize


~7.500

~6.000

MOBILE

vs

DESKTOP

Text Length in Characters


MOBILE

vs

DESKTOP

What’s the difference?RANKING FACTORS

2014

SemanticSearch3.

Topic(Complex Entity)

Who is the richest person in the world?

?

Verb

Entitity 1Entity 2

Complex Entitity (1+2)

Single Keyword

Complex Query with several Entities

Google “understands“the question

“Answer“above organic results

?

Source?

User(Query)

SERP(Knowledge Graph)

Hummingbird

Query A1

Similar (or even synonymous) Keyword Queries

SERP A1

Query A2

SERP A2

Query A3 SERP A3

Query A4

SERP A4

Query A5

SERP A5

Query A6 SERP A6

Pre-


Query A1

Hummingbird

Query A6

Query A5

Similar (or even synonymous) Keyword Queries

Query A2

Query A4

Query A3

SERP A

Post-


Analysis 1:SERP Diversity

Diversity of SERPs

All Keywords


~6.5%

Diversity of SERPs

All Keywords


34

~6%~2.5%

1

2

3

What happened?

Week 332013

1Week 45

2013

2Week 03

2014

3

10 104

Diversity of SERPs

Keywords with Question Words What, Where, Who, How, Why …


34

~6%~10%

Query

SERP C

SERP A

SERP B

Pre-

Hummingbird SERP Y

SERP J

SERP I

SERP H

SERP G

SERP F

SERP L

SERP K

SERP M

SERP N

SERP O

SERP P

SERP Q

SERP R

SERP S

SERP T

SERP U

SERP V

SERP ZSERP X


SERP H

SERP M

SERP J

SERP R

SERP F

QuerySERP

C

SERP A

SERP B

Post-

HummingbirdSERP

YSERP

I SERP G

SERP L

SERP K

SERP N

SERP O

SERP P

SERP Q

SERP S

SERP T

SERP U

SERP V

SERP Z

SERP X


Analysis 2:Keyword Pairs

4/10July 2013

9/10March 2014

2/10July 2013

7/10March 2014

HOLISTIC

BE

LINK PROFILE


BACKLINK ELEMENTSRANKING FACTORS

2014


BACKLINK ELEMENTSRANKING FACTORS

2014vs 2013


More Backlinks!

𝜌2014=0.31

Number of Backlinks


Better Links!

𝜌2014=0.26

SEO Visibility/ Source URL


NEW Features 2014

BACKLINK ELEMENTS


Fewer fresh Backlinks!

more𝜌2014=0.20

Number of new Backlinks


Correlation𝜌2014=0.16

Anchor = Domain Name


𝜌2014=0.15

Anchor = Brand/ URL

Evolution of

SEO

USERSIGNALS

Analysis 3:User Traffic


USER TRAFFIC ELEMENTSRANKING FACTORS

2014


𝜌2014=0.09Correlation

Time on Site


Ø𝜌2014=0.04

Bounce Rate


𝜌2014=0.67Correlation

Click-Through Rate

?Content

SEO

What‘s the goal of SEO for Content?

Content

Content

Content

Content → Ranking → Traffic

04/11/2023130 www.searchmetrics.com

What‘s the goal of SEO for Content?


1. Conserve Traffic – conventional SEO-Methods2. New Traffic through fresh Content

What‘s the best optimized website in the world?

Content → Ranking → Traffic

SEO

SearchEngineOptimization

SearchExperienceOptimization

SXO

TechniquesContent

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME

Education

Visibility_14: The Search (R)Evolution