seo signals framework - s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com signals framework ... google acquired several...

SEO Signals Framework

Copyright www.StevenKang.me All Rights Reserved

Use SEO Signals

Framework to

Dominate Both

Short and Long-

tail Rankings

By Steven Kang



SEO Signals Framework 1.1

SEO blogs and marketers often mention 200 factors at play for rankings. The

number was derived from Google patent filed in 2008. If we were to account for

50 variations for each factor, it can easily swell to 10,000. From a logistics

perspective, it doesn't make sense for an SEO marketer to go through 10,000 line

checklist every time you launch an SEO campaign for a website.

One of the major challenges I've faced was how to deal with an ever growing

number of ranking factors and algorithm updates. When I realized that if I can

figure out a way to describe the entire ranking process with a simpler model, not

only would I have a way to scale, but I also knew I would have a better way to

create a preventive measure against Google updates. Just like the concept of Yin

and Yang, which describes the forces of nature in a simplified way, I was on a

quest to discover one for SEO.

Several years ago, I came up with the concept of 4 major signals. By condensing

all SEO processes into four, I was able to track and describe how Google behaved

every time Google came up with an update. The 4 major SEO signals are

Relevancy, Authority, Popularity, and Technical.

Let's look at each signal and roughly define what they are.

Relevancy - For every keyword, there is a related keyword that exists in Google's

database. Two keywords can be related in various ways such as semantic, geo,

categorization, and brand.

Authority - Authority is a trust signal. Google looks for how often other trusted

sites are referencing your site.

Popularity - Popularity has changed over the years as the web has evolved.

Google made its algorithm changes to detect the signal from different places.

Popularity signals can be divided into link popularity, social popularity, and search

popularity.

Technical - Site security such as https and speed falls into this signal. Although

some of the signals do not play a major role in rankings now, they are expected to

play a bigger role in the future.

Now that we have roughly defined 4 major signals, let's look at why

understanding them has major benefits.



1) You now have a conceptual model to describe its behavior and understand what

Google is looking for after each algorithm update.

2) You can easily catalog whatever SEO activity or link building scheme some SEO

guru comes up with.

3) It gives a better way to identify the deficiencies with SEO activities you may

have not known before.

4) You can plan a preventative measure and guard against Google updates.

Please note that some SEO activities may overlap 2 or more signals. Here is an

example. Getting a link with a relevant anchor text from Forbes Magazine may

satisfy authority and relevancy signal. If the link happens to be 'click here', it may

just satisfy authority signal, but not relevancy. Another example would be if

someone were to search for a brand name on Google and clicks on the website, it

would satisfy search popularity and brand relevancy.




Understanding Popularity Signal

Popularity signal is a major signal Google uses to reward a site with rankings.

Since there are several attributes belonging to the signal, we'll take a closer

look.

Quantity vs. Quality

Where does popularity come from? It comes from quantity, not quality. Think of it

this way. If you are running for a school president, everyone's vote counts. It

doesn't matter where the vote comes from. As long as the vote is legitimate, you

win. A boy who is as twice as big as a girl will not get counted twice. Having said

that, there is no quality attribute associated with the popularity signal. The more

you gain, the better it is for rankings. From an algorithm perspective, getting a

Twitter tweet from the Pope will not have more weight than getting a tweet from a

beggar in Uganda.

Types of Popularity Signal



1) Link Popularity - Links used to play a huge role for many years as, after all, it

was the foundation of Google's original Pagerank algorithm. Over the years, its

role has drastically diminished after internet marketers found a way to massively

generate them. Basically, the original formula stated that the more links you

obtain, your rankings improved regardless of relevancy.



These days, I don't recommend counting on link popularity as a way to increase

rankings. I no longer look for ways to obtain links for the sake of getting links as

Google has started to ignore them. The evidence of this is all around us. For

several years, we've heard reports that mass generated social bookmarking,

profile forum links, comment links, and GSA links are being less effective.

2) Social Popularity - Before social media days, social signals weren't part of the

algorithm. Even after giant social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook gained a

massive momentum, Google wasn't able to crawl the posts and tweets and didn't

have a way to access the data for years. Nowadays, Google uses Twitter and

Facebook API to access their data after making arrangements with them. The best

way to use social popularity for a website is by using URL mentions and shares,

not likes.

3) Search Popularity - Google's intent is to make sure the organic search results

page has listings people want to click as having popular and relevant listings

means more revenue for Google via paid ads. Google also realized the search

would be hard to manipulate. To maximize search popularity, we need to

encourage visitor clicks by using catchy marketing hooks on title and description

tag.

Popularity Signal Trends




Understanding Authority Signal

Authority signal has gained a lot of traction over the years for a good reason.

Google needed a way to transition away from link popularity as one of its core

metric due to link spamming by internet marketers. It's the reason why link

popularity went downhill.

What defines authority signal? It's really a trust factor. Then where does trust

come from? Let's look at some real life situations.

1) Suppose you have a close friend you trust, ask yourself this question. Why do

you trust your friend? In most cases, it is because you've known him/her for a

long time. This is trust based on duration. Aside from trusting a friend, let's look

at other circumstances.

2) You trust a person based on how frequently you've interacted with. Your

neighbor or a school mate is a good example. This is an example of trust based

on frequency.

3) You trust a plumber your friend recommends. This is trust based

on reference.

4) You trust a police officer if he is wearing a uniform. This is trust based

on contextual relevance.

5) You go to your friend's birthday party and there are other strangers present.

You know that you can somehow trust them to a degree. This is trust based

on association.

6) You meet a person who knows about the industry inside and out and you begin

see the person as an expert. This is trust based on content.

Characteristics of Authority Signal

Now that we've looked at trust in various circumstances, we need to transpose the

concept to SEO. Here are some characteristics of sites with high authority signal.

1) High volume of social and search popularity - People share the URLs on



social media and blogs. These sites often appear on popular forums and there is a

buzz surrounding the site.

2) High amount of user activity - These sites typically generate lots of traffic

via searches and direct traffic.

3) Established presence - Quite often, these are aged sites. Google has known

them for a while and treats them like an old friend.

4) High volume of content and page count - The amount of relevant content

grows over time. Wikipedia is a good example.

5) Highly referenced by other sites - There are lots of mentions about them by

other sites. Yelp is a good example.

Types of Authority Sites

Not all sites are created equal. We can also classify authority sites into multiple

categories.

1) Social Authority - Sites that have lots of social shares and natural traffic such

as Twitter and Facebook are good examples.

2) Brand Authority - Sites like Coca-cola.com is a good example.

3) Niche Authority - Thomasnet.com is an industry leading directory site for

manufacturing niche.

4) Editorial Content Authority - Sites like Forbes.com qualify for this.

Authority Signal Trend

If we go back many years into the past, authority signal was weak at best. Google

couldn't tell which site to trust. Oftentimes, marketers created a new site and

ranked anything by creating a massive number of link as link popularity was

dominant. To deter this, Google made major algorithm changes to determine

which sites to trust.




Understanding Relevancy Signal

Relevancy Signal has evolved considerably over the years. Originally, Google's

idea of relevancy was based on keyword frequency. In order to rank, all you

needed to do was stuff keywords on your page, which is synonymous with high

keyword density, and obtain as many links as possible.

The concept of keyword density stems from the old keyword stuffing days. In case

you haven't noticed, Google always does its best to stay ahead of internet

marketers. As soon as an SEO concept becomes widely used, it becomes a

secondhand knowledge.

Google acquired several companies specializing semantic research over the years.

Using their technology, Google mapped every word in relation to other words. To

add more sophistication to its algorithm, Google looks at a group of words to

determine its intent using an algorithm named Rank Brain. Google looks at a body

of text called keyword clout rather than keyword density to determine its

relevancy. As in political clout, keyword clout is made up of related words which

influence Google's relevancy side of algorithm. To take advantage of the algorithm

to its fullest, we need to implement relevancy clout to both on and off-page

process known as Relevancy Stacking. It's our job to help Google understand a

web page's intent.

Domain Relevancy Versus Page Relevancy

If Google evaluates relevance per body of text, then what matters is page

relevancy, not domain relevancy. Does that mean domain name has no influence

on relevance? It does to a degree but it can also easily be suppressed by focusing

on other SEO elements such as article body, meta information, and rich media.

Here is an example. You have Amazon.com which caters to millions of niche

product pages which have nothing to do with Amazon forest. You also have

millions of Facebook pages which have nothing to do with someone's face. In both

cases, page relevancy triumphs over domain relevancy. What about a local niche

site? Can we rank a page about ice cream built on a plumber's site? Provided you

have both on and off-page relevancy stacked, you absolutely can.

Types of Relevancy



Let's look at different types of relevancy and further classify them. Here are some

examples:

1) Attorney and lawyer are related by semantic interchangeability or synonyms.

2) Lawyer and lawyers are related by semantic variation.

3) Legal and law firm are related by semantic categorization.

4) NY and New York are related by geo location.

Best Practice for On-Page Optimization

If Google can extract topical intent from a group of words, the best way to

maximize its relevancy is by focusing on a content cluster called keyword clout

compartmentalization. Rather than selecting a keyword and repeating it multiple

times, we should focus on packing as many related words as possible into

webpage elements Google values.

We know that Google values URL, title, and description tag more than any other

element on a webpage based on how Google uses them on a search engine results

page. To maximize relevancy signal, use of these elements must be maximized.

Since Rank Brain algorithm looks for a body of text as a qualifier for relevancy, it's

in our best interest to add a topically related article to a web page.

Best Practice for Off-Page Optimization

Think of off-page as an extension of your on-page. In an ideal situation, what was

said about on-page keyword clout should also be extended to off-page elements.

For example, getting contextual links from a dedicated external blog page related

to the on-page page topic has a stronger relevancy relationship than getting a

random link from a non-related body of text.

Relevancy Stacking

Relevancy stacking is a way to maximize both on and off-page elements without

diluting its effect. Below is an ideal format you can aim to shoot for.




Understanding Technical Signal

Technical signal is the easiest signal out of all four to understand. Technical signal

covers webpage load speed, security, and possibly mobile-friendly format known

as AMP. Currently, there is no known indication that technical is a major ranking

factor. In the future, however, I will be adding any major new developments. I've

included technical as one of the pillars as it could play a major role in the future.


Dissecting TRAP

In order to tame Google's algorithm, which reacts to the four major signals, we

first need to trap and dissect it. It's a similar concept to colliding two atoms

together in Hadron Collider in order to understand the inner workings of

subatomic particles. The more we can dissect, the more tools we'll have at our

disposal to create a preventative measure against Google's updates. TRAP is the

acronym for the four major signals: Technical, Relevancy, Authority, and

Popularity. From now on, I'll refer to the four major signals as TRAP as it has all

the components we've discussed.

Characteristics of TRAP

Each component of TRAP has a specific contributing role for the set.

Technical - It has a qualifying role for TRAP. To be even considered for a

Google's crawler visit, your site needs to load within a reasonable time.

Remember, ranking starts with indexation whether it's on-page or off-page.

Relevancy - It has a relational role for TRAP. Google values content which caters

to users' search intent and its relational value.

Authority - It has an amplifying role for TRAP. Authority signal is used to amplify

the site's overall standings with Google called site authority which translates to

faster and higher rankings.



Popularity - It has a validating role for TRAP. Once pages and links are built,

Google will attempt to validate a site's off-page activity by looking at popularity

metric which is directly associated with human activity level.

Using TRAP to Shield Against Google Updates

One of the major benefits of using TRAP is that we now have a conceptual model

to describe everything related to SERP dynamics. We no longer have to describe a

cause and effect relationship with complex diagrams or a long checklist. From a

strategist's perspective, it allows an efficient way to interpret the ranking patterns

and create a preventative measure against future algorithm updates. The term

'holistic SEO' no longer needs to be associated with fluff words like 'synergy' and

'natural.' Holistic SEO means using TRAP to fulfill SEO requirements.

One of the major issues with Google's algorithm update is that no one can predict

what the changes will look like as it has been manufactured and maintained by a

corporation. It's motive is simple. Google wants to maximize profit for its

shareholders and keep marketers out from figuring out its algorithm with a high

degree of accuracy. This, however, doesn't mean that we can't prepare ourselves

better than any SEO marketer on the planet.

By recognizing that a healthy SEO campaign needs to contain all the elements of

TRAP, we now have a way to monitor and look for deficiencies in any SEO

campaign. Here is an analogy. Think of owning a car with a set of 4 wheels. You

can technically drive a car with less than all four wheels intact. You can even

make the car move with only one wheel. This, however, can have a bad

consequence as the car can come to a halt which is an equivalent to losing all

rankings and possibly even deindexation. But if you can maintain the set of all

four wheels well, you can ride out any bumps headed your way with relative

ease.

One of the best ways to survive Google update is by making sure that TRAP is in

good standing. Here are the steps I've been using for years and have shielded my

clients from major Google updates.

1) Create a checklist for TRAP components and do the best to keep up with

activities which satisfy each component per month. Each page doesn't need to

have TRAP components satisfied but the site as a whole needs to satisfy the TRAP

checklist.

2) Monitor rankings progress and use TRAP checklist to augment or minimize



signals.

3) Whenever there is a news about a major update, wait for the update to be over

and identify how Google's TRAP requirement has shifted. Google algorithm update

usually ends up with a shift in technical, popularity, authority, and relevancy

signal.

4) Recognize the new shift and make up for deficiencies using TRAP checklist.




Dynamics of TRAP

Now that we have defined TRAP in the previous section, we need to understand

the dynamics and strategies using TRAP model. Quite often, most SEO campaigns

start off with an emphasis on Authority. In reality, Popularity and Relevancy can

also be used as the starting signal. Whatever the kick off signal may be, each

campaign must monitor TRAP deficiencies and should allocate resources for them

in order to safeguard against Google update. Below are examples of different

campaign types:

Using Relevancy as the Kick-Off Signal - This model leverages both and on

and off-page Relevancy elements to gain ranking traction. Creating keyword clout

rich content pages to leverage on-page fits into this model. Done correctly, you

can gain a large presence on SERP using long-tail broad match patterns which

leads to search traffic which then satisfies search Popularity signal.

Let's look an ideal SEO campaign using Relevancy signal as its primary focus.

1) You build a content rich site while focusing on off-page relevancy. This process

is known as Relevancy Stacking.

2) You start gaining search traffic via long-tail keywords which is an equivalent to

search popularity.

3) People start sharing content on social media which leads to social popularity.

4) You gain site authority over time due to high Relevancy and Popularity

signals.

Here are some things to be aware of in order to make the campaign successful

using Relevancy signal.

1) Since this model attempts to gain search Popularity signal via long-tail

searches, you must make an effort to upload fresh content on a regular basis.

2) You can kick-off paid social shares to gain social popularity signal.

3) Since the model doesn't leverage Authority to begin with, you must actively

look for ways to gain Authority signal and make up for deficiencies.



Using Authority as the Kick-Off Signal - Most SEO campaigns attempt to

leverage Authority signal as its primary focus. While this model worked great

when the sole ranking metric was dependent on link popularity and you were able

to easily gauge the competition using third party tools, it is no longer the case

these days. With so many other factors in play, it can be a risky bet. It is also the

most expensive way to beat the competition and maintain rankings.

Let's observe an ideal SEO campaign using Authority signal as its primary focus.



1) You start sending high metric links to the homepage in hopes of passing off the

juice to inner pages.

2) You start seeing search traffic momentum with high volume short-tail

keywords.

3) People start sharing the website on social media.

4) Other relevant blogs start mentioning your site and satisfies off-page relevancy

signal.

Here are the things to watch out for in order to make the campaign a success

using Authority signal.

1) Using PBN homepage links to gain authority signal is like gambling as many

PBN site value decays over time. You must incorporate Authority signal outside of

PBN to make up for decaying strength. Whether you use PBN or not, the cost to

maintain the rankings can be quite expensive. If you are solely doing white hat

link building to gain Authority signal, the cost can be astronomical.

2) Since the foundation is built on Authority signal only, you must start building

content rich relevant pages in order to satisfy keyword clout Relevancy.

3) Constant ranking fluctuations are often prevalent in short-tail keyword

landscape due to ever increasing competition. This makes search Popularity signal

to become irregular. To make up for the inconsistency, you can launch paid social

media shares.



Using Popularity as the Kick Off Signal - Content marketing falls into this

strategy. People often say content is king. From a signals perspective, the

statement has its merits only if the content gets shared and goes viral. It then

satisfies social Popularity signal. As with most things in life, nothing lasts forever.

You need to satisfy other signals in order to maintain rankings achieved using

Popularity signal or it eventually loses its momentum.

Let's analyze an ideal SEO campaign using Popularity signal as its primary focus.



1) You create a content piece that resonates with the target audience and it gets

shared on social media platforms.

2) Google gives the benefit of doubt and starts ranking keywords associated with

the shared content.

3) Other authority sites start mentioning the site and you gain links from authority

sites which satisfies Authority signal.

Let's list the items which need to be observed in order to make the campaign a

success.

1) Gaining traction via social sharing has its limit as each viral content has a shelf

life. To maintain momentum, you must periodically produce content that

resonates with the target audience using various angles.

2) You get a false sense of security by thinking you have achieved site authority

but in reality, you've gained rankings via a short burst of social popularity signal.

It is recommended that you make up for deficient Authority signal by getting links

from authority sites checklist.

3) Although Google may have picked-up Relevancy signal from the viral content, it

may not be keyword clout based. To fortify Relevancy signal, it is recommended

that you add keyword clout based content related to the viral article.



Conclusion

Whatever the starting campaign's primary signal happens to be,

you'll want to ensure Google picks up other SEO signals as an

ongoing endeavor. This is an intelligent way to implement a

preventative measure, rather than having to put out fire each time

Google update occurs.




External Factors

Although TRAP model explains the attributes of each SEO signal, we still need to

observe how other external factors can affect rankings. Some factors will work

against TRAP and some will benefit it. By recognizing these factors, we can

prepare an SEO campaign as a strategist, not as a technician. It also helps with

setting the right expectation when doing client SEO. Let's look at some external

factors that can play a role in rankings.

Negative Factors

Competition - Due to a significant rise in paid ad cost, SEO is becoming a sought

after skill. Unfortunately, the demand for SEO skill also creates strong

competition. Since it's incredibly difficult to decipher which TRAP component was

used by competing sites on SERP, it is in our best interest to fortify all TRAP

components as an ongoing SEO effort.

Google Data Center - Since Google has to crunch trillions of data sets in order to

calculate rankings for all websites, Google uses multiple data centers and load

balancers to handle calculations. Google also uses different servers for different

ranking factors. Communicating a massive amount of data among multiple servers

naturally creates a lag. Google dance is a phenomenon caused by data latency

effect. Even if you do everything correctly, you'll notice that rankings generally

move up in an upward progression sine wave. The best way to minimize the wave

is by creating a consistent signal velocity. A consistent link velocity (link building

effort) is an example of signal velocity.



Google's Profit Motive - Organic results section is an ever shrinking landscape

since Google's intent is to maximize the profit for its shareholders via paid ad

section. There is no easy solution to deal with the cyber real estate shrinkage. We

have to be tuned into the industry updates and do our best to fortify our SEO

efforts.



Google's Algorithm Update - Google's algorithm update has two main purposes.

1) Weed out spammers from SERP. 2) Curve organic SEO marketers who can

figure out Google's algorithm with a high degree of accuracy. By using TRAP, we'll

be better equipped to deal with the updates than our competition can.

Google Penalty - Google penalty is not as common as you'd think. In most

cases, SEO campaigns lack signals compared to competing sites. Once in a while

though, Google penalizes a specific brand or a certain type of activity to send a

message to the community that Google is in control, not the community. A good

example is BMW and JC Penny several years ago. Periodic PBN deindexation and

devaluing of guest post links are also good examples.

Positive Factors

Perfection Not Required - Ranking isn't about whether a site is perfectly

optimized for TRAP or not. But rather, you are listed on Google's SERP based on

TRAP's relational significance. Trying to launch a perfectly balanced SEO campaign

is not only unnecessary, it can also lead to budget inefficiency. The best strategy

to deal with this issue is by using a progressive resource allocation protocol.

Controllable Signals - Fortunately, we do have some control over the signals we

can generate. One of the major benefits of TRAP model is that it allows us to

identify which signal needs to be enhanced thus allowing us to fortify its strength.

By creating a proper TRAP checklist, we'll have a simplified process to quickly

identify and make up for deficiencies resulting from competition or Google

updates.



About Me:

I immigrated to the United States from South Korea when I was 10 years old. When the internet took off in the 90’s, I started to learn web

programming and internet marketing as a hobby while running two other business ventures. What started out as a hobby soon turned into a full-time

profession.

During my career, I’ve helped thousands of small

businesses, ad agencies, and Fortune 500 companies. I also became the third founder of a supply chain

SAAS startup which was sold for millions.

With my programming background, SEO knowledge,

and marketing angles, I was able to put on many

hats including lead developer, lead consultant, and lead project manager for various marketing projects

for agencies and companies.

I’ve created this PDF to educate my clients and share my views on

marketing with the community. I am hoping this blog will bring value to your

marketing endeavors.

My Blog

https://stevenkang.me/

SEO White Label Partnership

If you own an agency and need help with scaling SEO, please visit

http://www.ScaleMySEO.com

Advanced SEO Training

If you want to further your SEO knowledge and training, please visit

http://www.RelevancyStacking.com for lessons and custom tools I’ve developed

over the years. The course leverages relevancy signal to rank a large number of

keywords.

https://stevenkang.me/

http://www.scalemyseo.com/

http://www.relevancystacking.com/



SEO Community

Please join my non-spammy discussion groups:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SEOSignalsLab/ (discussions on Technical

SEO and ranking factors)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/LeadStacking/ (discussions on client SEO

marketing and sales)

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