Cool SERP, bro!

SERPs aren’t as easy to backsolve

5

Hummingbird – it’s a new engine

So how do we interpret studies like this?

Does this mean rankings are all about getting Google +1s?

About correlation studies

These are hints. Not ranking factors.Read: Correlation does not equal causation

“Correlation does not imply causation”

Edward Tufte says this is better:

"Correlation is not causation but it sure is a

hint."

Cyrus “The Shepard” has it right

Cyrus has a great ranking factors deck:http://www.slideshare.net/cyrusshepard

Links?

"I think backlinks still have many, many years left in them," he said. "But inevitably what we're trying to do is figure out how an expert user would say this particular page matched their information needs. And sometimes backlinks matter for that."

Links = very much alive.*http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2343363/Matt-Cutts-Google-Wont-Devalue-Links-Anytime-Soon

External Anchor Texthttp://moz.com/rand/imec-lab/

Competitive phrases are tougher to move, but still hold up in testing.

Internal Anchor Texthttp://www.greenlaneseo.com/blog/2014/01/old-school-seo-tests-action/

Keyword strings in titles, METAs, etc.

Mark up ALL THE THINGS?

“Absolute Rankings”

“Rankings are part of my reporting, but near the back now”

“Rankings will be dead within one year”

“I still report rankings, but as a composite metric. Not individual rankings.”

Entity-based optimization

If you read one thing this year…

http://www.seobythesea.com/2014/01/entity-associations-websites-related-entities/

Alchemy API

Alchemy API

If you read two things this year…

http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/knowledge-graph-optimization

Localized organic results

Takeaway: All the search engines are building for the mobile future.

Google’s move to Local KG

Takeaway: Hummingbird requires us to test SEO assumptions.

http://webmeup.com/blog/seo-experiments.html

Takeaway: Optimize content around entities and relationships.

Unique Snowflake SEO™

Takeaway: Every site has its own set of success factors