Why Old SEO that SHOULD
fail still…works?
Matthew Brown – @MatthewJBrown
Download this:
http://bit.ly/oldSEOFTW
Let’s start with a couple
assumptions
Old SEO?
Smoldering
lowered glasses
look
Grey
Brylcreem?
Old SEO =
Links and Anchor Text
Domain Strength
On-page keyword relevance
Freshness (QDF)
Is Old SEO dying?
New SEO is additive
to the basic SEO.
Many of the same old relevancy signals
are Google’s *strongest*
Win SEO with these four
weird old tricks
1: Exact and Partial Match Domains
In SERPs that don’t
have a lot of
branded results,
EMDs/PMDs often
win
These all have
higher domain
authority and more
links!
Now might be a good time to invest in EMDs
This site rules! What else is Google counting?
Two: Win the Verticals
Ferris Club! –
http://theatln.tc/1u2Ikpe
2015: News Boxes = gettable
2015: In-Depth Boxes = gettable
2015: Snippets & Knowledge Graph/Cards
Protip: When you’re seeing this:
Monitor the effect in Search Analytics
Keep tabs with Dr. Pete’s Feature Graph :
http://bit.ly/QaBID4
3. Anchor Text (exact and partial match)
Let’s just say they built a LOT of links
Their penalty lasted less than a week?!
And all these commercial KWs rank top 10
4. It’s still about the LINKS
Legacy Links FTW
Hmmm…What’s
with Tripadvisor?
Legacy Links
Link History from Majestic
Domain Strength (see also: BRAND)
This domain weighs a ton
Go ahead, try building links like that now
Link Risk Assessment by @dyn4mik3 –
http://bit.ly/1BcBgKM
Link Risk Assessment by @dyn4mik3 –
http://bit.ly/1BcBgKM
Can the new mobile world change this?
App Indexing + Deep Links + Actions -
http://tnw.co/1KRDtO3
That is going to be a LOT of SEO work
Old SEO that still works:
Dominate the verticals
EMDs (with other signals)
Link building and anchor text!
No usage/brand signals is a killer
Keyword targeting is harder
Link building is now much trickier
Where Future SEO wins:
Why old SEO still works...sometimes.

Why old SEO still works...sometimes.