#6 IMU: Advanced SEO Tactics: On Beyond Keyword Research (GF401)

Advanced SEO Tactics: On Beyond Keyword Research (GF401) Professor: Rand Fishkin , SEOmoz

Beyond Keyword Research: Advanced SEO Tactics Rand Fishkin – June 2009

Expert Opinion: Search Ranking Factors Survey Answered by 70 Top SEOs Worldwide

Data Correlations: SEOmoz Research on Several Hundred Search Result Sets Conducted Feb-May 2009

Google's Ranking Algorithm

Expert Opinion: Relative Importance of Algo Components in Google

Correlation Data: Relative Importance of Algo Components in Google

Takeaways: Links, as they pertain to both the domain and the individual page, are vastly superior in importance to the page's content.

Keyword Usage

Expert Opinion

Correlations

Correlations Importance of KW Usage in Various Parts of the URL

Correlations Importance of KW Usage Positions of the Title Tag

Substantive Disagreement: H1 Tags (Low Correlation w/ Rankings) Alt Text (Higher Correlation w/ Rankings) Keyword in URL (Very High Correlation) Keyword Location (Data Says Closer is Much Better)

Non-Link Factors

Expert Opinion

Takeaways: Substantive, Unique Content is Very Important W3C Validation Not Very Important Code to Text Ratio Not Very Important Static URLs Somewhat Better Than Dynamic

Importance of Link Metrics

Expert Opinion

Correlation with Specific Metrics Across the Engines

Takeaways: PageRank may be important, but TBPR not a great predictor Domain Authority may be important, but metrics need work TrustRank concepts may be important, but metrics need work Domain Diversity may be more important than experts think

Consideration of Subdomains vs. Root Domains

Importance of Link Popularity Features on Root Domains, Subdomains & Pages

Takeaways: Subdomains likely DO NOT inherit all of the ranking benefits of the Root Domain, but neither are they completely separate entities.

Geographic Ranking Factors For Country-Specific Targeting

Takeaways: 1) Country TLD 2) Language 3) Links 4) Host IP Address 5) Manual Review 6) GG WM Tools Geographic Target Settings 7) Registration with Google Local