Why General Ranking Factors Are Dead! SEO Ranking Factors in 2017

#SMX #11A @MarcusTober
SEO Ranking Factors in 2017 and beyond!
WHY GENERAL
RANKING FACTORS
ARE DEAD!
-
What’s Important,
What’s Not
SEARCHMETRICS
THE CONTENT GENERATION

MARCUS TOBER
• Founder and CTO of Searchmetrics
• Studied computer science in Berlin (Data and Tech Nerd)
• Search and Content mouthpiece since 2001

SEARCHMETRICS
• Made with love in Berlin
• More than 280 passionate people
• Innovator in SEO and Content Software since 2015

DOWNLOAD SLIDES:
searchmetrics.com/smxeast-2017

TRADITIONAL RANKING FACTORS
REST
IN
PEACE!

TWO APPROACHES TO ANALYZE
1. GeneralTrends
2. Individual Peculiarities
RANKING FACTORS

#SMX #11A @MarcusTober@MarcusTober#SMX #11A#SMX #11A @MarcusTober
GENERAL TRENDS
FROM GENERAL TO INDIVIDUAL
1.

Health + Finance + eCommerce + Media + Travel
Overall Ranking FactorsGENERAL
NICHE
INDUSTRY
Recipes/ SEO/ Celebrity News/ Dating/ Weather Forecast etc.
broad
specific
Our NEW Ranking Factors Approach
GENERAL vs INDUSTRY vs NICHE

Health + Finance + eCommerce + Media + Travel
Overall Ranking Factors
NICHE
INDUSTRY
Recipes/ SEO/ Celebrity News/ Dating/ Weather Forecast
GENERAL
Our NEW Ranking Factors Approach
GENERAL vs INDUSTRY vs NICHE

#SMX #11A @MarcusTober#SMX #11A @MarcusTober#SMX #11A @MarcusTober
Technical
Tc
1

Page LoadTime (sec) Technical
Tc
1
50%
150%
250%
350%
450%
550%
650%
750%
850%
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Desktop 2016 #REF! Desktop 2017
5.8s
Top 10-
2017
7.8s
Top 10-
2016
Pages load 2 seconds faster than last year.
GENERAL RANKING FACTORS (TRENDS)

#SMX #11A @MarcusTober#SMX @MarcusTober
Keywords
Kw
2

40%
45%
50%
55%
60%
65%
70%
75%
80%
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Desktop 2015 Desktop 2016 Desktop 2017
48%
Top 10-
2017
55%
Top 10-
2016
75%
Top 10-
2015
Webmasters are finally skipping keyword
usage as a strategy.
Keyword inTitle
Keyword
Kw
2

Content
Co
4

Content
Co
4
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
2,200
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Desktop 2015 Desktop 2016 Desktop 2017
1,900 1,600
Top 10-
2016
1,300
Top 10-
2015
Content is becoming longer and longer.
Top 10-
2017
Word Count

BUT:
…is it just
the size that
matters?

LEARNING
Content
becomes
longer and longer
4LEARNING
User
Experience
is improving
3
LEARNING
Keywords
continue to lose
relevance
2LEARNING
Technical
optimization
improves
1
LEARNING
Content needs
to be relevant to
the user intention
5

Individual Ranking Factors

INDIVIDUAL PECULIARITIES
DIFFERENT AUDIENCES – DIFFERENT NEEDS
2.

Different Industries – Different Ranking Factors
eCommerce Finance Health Media Travel
Download for free: searchmetrics.com/industry-factors
INDUSTRY RANKING FACTORS

eCommerce Finance Health Media Travel

People want to feel safe!
…
especially when it comes
to money
Finance Ranking Factors

http://www.google.com/
tax calculator
7 pages WITH HTTPS on the 1st page!
Only 1 page WITHOUT HTTPS.
Would YOU hand over sensitive financial data?
#SMX @MarcusTober

Technical
Tc
1
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Finance Travel
23%
Top 10-
Travel
46%
Top 10-
Finance
Much more HTTPS in Finance than inTravel.
HTTPS

arctic cruiseNone of the top URLs use HTTPS!
Why use HTTPS for Travel (offer landing) pages?

User Experience
Ux
2
0
1
2
3
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Finance Spalte2 Travel
2.15
Top 10-
Travel
0.92
Top 10-
Finance
Much more images inTravel than in Finance.
Number of Images

User Experience
Ux
2
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Finance Spalte2 Travel
2,700
Top 10-
Travel
1,800
Top 10-
Finance
Much more Content inTravel than in Finance.
Average Word Count

#SMX #11A @MarcusTober#SMX
cheap airline tickets
#SMX @MarcusTober

Images 13 ; Word Count 733
#SMX @MarcusTober

foreign exchange
#SMX @MarcusTober

Images 0 / Word Count 87
#SMX @MarcusTober

Images: 0
Word Count: 87
Images: 13
Word Count: 733
HUGE differences in image & word count!
But both URLs rank on #1!
„Cheap Airline Tickets“„Foreign Exchange“

SEO BlogsDating Platforms Recipes
User Intention varies depending on NICHE/ QUERY
NICHE RANKING FACTORS

Technical
Tc
1
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Dating SEO Recipes
34% 62%
Top 10-
SEO
18%
Top 10-
Recipes
Very different spread of HTTPS in niches.
Top 10-
Dating
HTTPS

• RANKING FACTORS
2017-US Technical
Tc
1
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Dating SEO Recipes
34% 60%
Top 10-
SEO
89%
Top 10-
Recipes
Recipes has most Microdata integrations.
Top 10-
Dating
Microdata (Schema.org)

scallop potato recipe
#SMX
8 out of the top 10 organic results
have Schema integrations!
1
2
3
4
5
6
8
7
#SMX @MarcusTober
Different NICHES – Different Ranking Factors
NICHES RANKING FACTORS

#SMX
1
2
dating websites for free
?
?
Just TWO URLs on the first page
have Schema integrations!
#SMX @MarcusTober
Different NICHES – Different Ranking Factors
NICHES RANKING FACTORS

USER WANTS TO:
Find the best platform
USER WANTS:
Information and analyses
USER WANTS:
Easy and structured guidance
SEARCH INTENTIONS

…it makes NO sense to analyse Ranking Factors according to
SEARCH VOLUME GROUPS!
(because search intentions do not depend on volume)
THAT‘S WHY…

AWARENESS
CONSIDERATION
TRANSACTION
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
SEARCHVOLUME
High
SEARCHVOLUMES INTHE SALES FUNNEL
SIMPLIFIED MODEL
Moderate
Low

SEARCHVOLUME
High
SIMPLIFIED MODEL
SHOP
BULLETS
TEXT
IMAGES
Moderate
Low
Low
>50K
>20K
<20K
Single Pages for every
Funnel Stage or
SearchVolume Group?

SEARCHVOLUME
High
SIMPLIFIED MODEL
SHOP
BULLETSTEXT IMAGES
Moderate Low Low
FAIL!
Single Page Single Page Single Page Single Page

High
SIMPLIFIED MODEL
SHOP
BULLETS
TEXT
IMAGES
Moderate
Low
Low
TEXT
VIDEO
TEXT
HOLISTIC
PAGES
WIN!

© Searchmetrics. All rights reserved. Do not
• Table of contents
• Unordered Lists
• Infoboxes
• Images and interactive
elements
• …and much more

CONSOLIDATE AND FOCUS ON NICHE = SUCCESS
BUT IT WORKS!!
240% more Visibility
95% of content removed
and: consolidated
– Removing old content can lead to awesome growth –
–
–

Furniture
Weight Loss Wine
*NEW NICHE RANKING FACTORS
Einstein

-0.20
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Health Furniture Wine Einstein
#Videos in Content
0.38 0.01
Top 10-
Furniture
0.00
Top 10-
Wine
Most videos on position 1+2 in health niche.
Top 10-
Health
0.08
Top 10-
Einstein

weight loss
#SMX @MarcusTober

#SMX @MarcusTober#SMX @MarcusTober
11 Videos (!)

candle sconsces
#SMX @MarcusTober

Videos: 0 / but Images: 87
#SMX @MarcusTober

0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
# Images in Content
19.39 27.95
Top 10-
Furniture
9.79
Top 10-
Wine
.Most images in furniture niche (shop/ e-commerce).
Top 10-
Health
11.45
Top 10-
Einstein

THE MORETHE BETTER?

-0.05
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
# Image Galery Above Fold
0.11 0.00
Top 10-
Furniture
0.00
Top 10-
Wine
Most image galleries in health niche.
Top 10-
Health
0.00
Top 10-
Einstein

Health Niche – Image Gallery?
Image Galery (10 Images/ 10 Clicks)

0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Health Recipes
# Image Galery Above Fold
0.11 0.19
Top 10-
Recipes
Top 10-
Health

0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
# Ads
3.24 0.59
Top 10-
Furniture
1.13
Top 10-
Wine
Most ads in health niche.
Top 10-
Health
1.90
Top 10-
Einstein

0.00
50.00
100.00
150.00
200.00
250.00
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
# Sentences
91 46
Top 10-
Furniture
54
Top 10-
Wine
Most content/ sentences in science niche.
Top 10-
Health
117
Top 10-
Einstein

the theory of relativity
#SMX @MarcusTober

Much Content

dresser with mirror
#SMX @MarcusTober

Images, but much less content!
#SMX @MarcusTober

0.00
500.00
1,000.00
1,500.00
2,000.00
2,500.00
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
# of Keywords the URL ranks for
1,922.69 336.73
Top 10-
Furniture
47.63
Top 10-
Wine
Health pages rank for many keywords.
Top 10-
Health
155.97
Top 10-
Einstein

Same Niches – Different Keywordset
100 KWs 1000 KWs
VS

0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Health Health BIG Furniture Furniture BIG
# Ads
3.24 3.33
Top 10-
Health BIG
0.59
Top 10-
Furniture
...
Top 10-
Health
0.62
Top 10-
Furniture BIG

0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
120.00
140.00
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Health Health BIG Furniture Furniture BIG
# Sentences
91 88
Top 10-
Health BIG
46
Top 10-
Furniture
...
Top 10-
Health
37
Top 10-
Furniture BIG

BE UNIQUE - BE DIFFERENT
CONTENT TAILORED TO YOUR AUDIENCE

Publish and Forget?
PUBLISH AND FORGET?

• More content
• Video
• Infographic
• Lists
2010 TODAY
#SMX @MarcusTober
Example searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo
CONTENT UPDATES

2010 TODAY
Content Score: 78%
Word Count: 873
Content Score: 64%
Word Count: 701
#SMX @MarcusTober
CONTENT SCORE – before and after
Keyword „SEO“

#SMX #11A @MarcusTober#SMX #11A @MarcusTober#SMX #11A @MarcusTober#SMX @MarcusTober
KEEP IN MIND!
1. Specialize Content
2. Update Content
3. Technical Optimization

KNOW
YOUR
AUDIENCE
!
!

Live Long and Prosper
Download slides:
searchmetrics.com/smxeast-2017

Why General Ranking Factors Are Dead! SEO Ranking Factors in 2017

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