SEO Masterclass Webit 2010

SEO MasterclassRand Fishkin, CEO & Co-founder, SEOmozWebit, Sofia October 2010

Topics for the Masterclass Correlation analysis of search results

Information architecture & navigation structure

Overcoming Twitter’s cannibalization of the link graph

New Research: Topic Modeling in the Search ResultsUse Statistical Analysis to Answer Important SEO Questions

Correlation ≠ CausationThe more I wear suits, the more I speak on panels.Therefore: wearing suits causes me to speak on panels.

Understanding Correlation SignificanceNo CorrelationExact Match DomainPerfect CorrelationMost of our data for search rankings falls in this region(which we’d expect given algorithms w/ 200+ ranking factors)

Question #1:How to Best “Optimize” a Site for Search Engine Rankings

Methodology 11,351 SERPs via Google AdWords Suggest

1st Page Only (usually ~10 results per page)

Correlations are w/ Higher Position on Page 1

Controlled for SERPs Where All (or None) of the Results Matched the MetricMethodologyLooking for elements that higher ranking pages have that lower ones do notNOT looking at raw counts of how many pages featured a given element

Contains All Query Terms in Domain NameExact Match Hyphenated DomainExact Match DomainHighest Stderr = 0.0241804

Our Interpretation Exact match domains remain powerful in both engines (anchor text could be a factor, too)

Hyphenated versions are less powerful, though more frequent in Bing (G: 271 vs. B: 890)

Just having keywords in the domain name has substantial positive correlationKWs in BodyKWs in Alt AttributeKWs in H1 TagKWs in URLKWs in TitleHighest Stderr = 0.00350211

Our Interpretation The Alt attribute of images is interesting

Putting KWs in URLs is likely a best practice

Everyone optimizes titles (G: 11,115 vs. B: 11,143). Differentiating here is hard.

(Simplistic) on-page optimization isn’t a huge factor.gov.edu.info.net.org.comHighest Stderr = 0.0269818

Our Interpretation More reasons to believe Google when they say .gov, .info and .edu are not special cased

The .org TLD extension is surprising – do they earn more links? Less spam? More non-commercial?

Don’t forget about branding/user behavior - .com is still probably a very good thing (at least own it)Content Length (tokes in body)URL Length(chars.)Domain Name Length (chars.)Highest Stderr = 0.0033353

Our Interpretation Shorter URLs are likely a good best practice (especially on Bing)

Long domains may not be ideal, but aren’t awful

Raw content length seems marginal in correlationQuestion #2:What Kind of Links Matter & How Should We Evaluate Links?

# of Linking Root Domains to URL# of Links to URLHighest Stderr = 0.00335677

Our Interpretation Links are likely still a major part of the algorithms

Bing may be slightly more naïve in their usage of link data than Google, but better than before

Diversity of link sources remains more important than raw link quantity# of Links w/ exact match anchor text# of linking root domains w/ exact match anchor textHighest Stderr = 0.00415058

Our Interpretation Many anchor text links from the same domain likely don’t add much value

Anchor text links from diverse domains, however, appears highly correlated

Bing and Google are relatively similar in evaluating these metricsCorrelation of Page-Level Link Valuation Metrics

Our InterpretationPageRank (and similar algorithms) are not particularly representative of rankings (but are somewhat correlated)

Linking domains are likely a better metric than raw links

Page Authority is reasonably good, but has a way to goCorrelation of Domain-Level Link Valuation Metrics

Our Interpretation No single domain valuation metric is especially well correlated with rankings

Rankings of individual pages may be more disparate we typical think re: “domain authority”

Overall, we’re still very naïve when it comes to understanding how links influence search rankingsQuestion #3:How Does Google Instant Change Keyword Demand / SEO?

Are Most Users Seeing/Using Google Instant?http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/report_google_search_box_in_firefox_accounts_for_9.php

Methodology: Keyword Referral Search Data Look at keyword sending traffic via analytics

Distribute into groups by word-length

Analyze shifts in demand by keywords that brought visits to the site

Compare from period prior to Google Instant and directly afterVia MEC Manchester (UK)5 Sites, 4 Verticals, 10K+ Keywordshttp://www.mecmanchester.co.uk/blog/google-instant-data-after-12-days.html

Via Distilled Consulting (UK)11 Sites, Various Sizes (3.5K – 75K weekly visits), 75K+ Keywordshttp://www.distilled.co.uk/blog/seo/impact-of-google-instant/

Via ConductorMultiple sites, 880K visits, 10Ks of keywordshttp://blog.conductor.com/2010/09/what%E2%80%99s-been-the-impact-of-google-instant-on-searcher-behavior-so-far-not-much/

Interesting Takeaways Google Instant seems not to have shifted keyword demand by much (if at all)

Google “suggest” has been out for a long time already; users are likely accustomed to this feature

The “long tail” may get longer/shorter over time, but Instant seems less responsible than other factorsGoals of Successful Information Architecture

Semantically Logical Structure

Maximize Usability of Navigation

Tips for Semantically Useful Navigation

Initially Design without Keyword Research

Add in Keyword Research Based Modifications

Validate Architecture/Path with Non-SEOs

Editorial Categorization > User-Defined

HACK: Multi-Level HTML Sitemap

Naming Conventions that Match Intent

Avoiding Common “Big Site” Problems

Employ Absolute URLsAbsolute:<a href=“http://www.seomoz.org/blog”> anchor </a>Relative: <a href=“../blog”> anchor </a>

C&D vs. Large, Credible Orgs that Scrape

Don’t Go Overboard w/ Bot Blocking

Track Referrals, not Site: Commands

Check Page “Types” that Don’t Receive Traffic

“Search Results” in the SERPs

Create Category “Landing” Pages

Remove Obvious Traces of “Search” on Landing Pages

Employ Scalable Content Production

Keep “Thin” Pages Out of the SERPs

Watch Out for Google Crawling Javascript

Offer Facets Only to Logged-In / Cookied UsersLogged-In = 345 / Googlebot = 141

Overcoming Twitter’s Cannibalization of the Link Graph

Way Back in 2007Interesting content, blog posts & linkbait earned LOTS of links

Fast Forward to 2010Not so many links (in comparison)

Fast Forward to 2010But tons of social sharing (and tweets)

Are Pages Linking Out Less?Via Linkscape’s web index

How Do We Earn Traditional Web Links (the kind search engines love)?

Infographics+1,085 links from 356 root domainshttp://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/24/google-facts-and-figures-massive-infographic/

Badgeshttp://www.zillow.com/webtools/badges/

Research & Datahttp://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2014332,00.html

Awards + Rankingshttp://www.moneycrashers.com/top-personal-finance-blogs/

Citation-Worthy Explanationshttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/googles-algorithm-pretty-charts-math-stuff

Niches where content is low-supply/high-demandhttp://perfectmarket.com/vault_index_summer_2010_infographic

ID sites that already syndicate from someone else

Tactic #4:Stick to Niches w/o Twitter Adoption

Find sectors where traditional blogs/forums dominate conversationhttp://www.eng-tips.com/

Many of these “old-school” sites have followed external links (but don’t abuse these)Note the nofollow highlighting

Some “Web 2.0” Ones, Too Impressive domain and page level metrics

Tactic #5:Friends, Partners, Customers & Vendors

Customershttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/headsmacking-tip-1-link-requests-in-order-confirmation-emails

Vendorshttp://burton.kontain.com/evogear/

Tactic #6:Twitter May Take Your Tweets, But They’ll Never Take Your Content!

Turn Your Tweets Into Contenthttp://twournal.com/home

Turn Tweets from industry leaders into content, too (this entices them to share)http://www.seomoz.org/blog/bing-vs-google-prominence-of-ranking-elements

Tactic #7:Can’t Beat ‘em? Join ‘em!

Twitter is (almost certainly) influencing (at least some) rankingsLots of tweets, virtually no links, but remarkable rankings

Twitter can send lots of direct traffic

You need to target the right Tweetershttp://twitaholic.com/top100/followers/

The Ones Who Send Real Traffichttp://mashable.com/2009/07/07/twitter-clickthrough-rate/

Not the “Grade”Use the “Rank”http://twittergrader.com

Takeaways # of Followers DEFINITELY isn’t everything

Tweeting heavily may not necessarily hurt the attention people pay to your tweets

Klout score probably isn’t great for predicting the reach of an individual’s tweets/messages

TwitterGrader Rank may be useful for predicting the traffic you’d get from a tweeter

Avg. CTR across 254 shared links = 1.17% (don’t feel bad if only 1/100 followers clicks a link)Making Analytics Actionable

To Make Analytics Actionable Always Ask:#1 - “Why am I measuring this?”#2 – “What would I do if results were different?”

# of Visits Per Search Engine Over Time

Action: Measure against search engine market shares & volume to determine whether you’re making positive strides

# Pages Getting Search Referrals Over TimeMeasure this number on a weekly/monthly basis

Action: Discover if indexation is an issue worth effortThis number sucks. Learn more about why at:www.seomoz.org/blog/indexation-for-seo-real-numbers-in-5-easy-steps

# of Keywords Sending Traffic from aSearch Engine over Time

Action: Determine if content additions are accretive and what drives growth/shrinkage in search trafficDid rankings fall? Or is demand down?

Action: Analyze top traffic drivers from a value perspective, check rankings for potential easy wins & get answers if traffic dips“SEO Tools” is a big win and we could rank higher

First-Time vs. Returning Visits per KeywordThe keyword “SEO” leans toward first-time visits

Action: Determine value of reaching new visitors vs. converting branded users (focus efforts on the more valuable one)This metric speaks to business strategy about converting existing fans vs. reaching new customer segments

Distribution of Keyword Referrals

Action: Discover strengths vs. opportunities (60-70% of traffic is typically in the long tail and it converts better)

Keyword Rankingswww.seomoz.org/rank-tracker

Action: Know if traffic spikes/dropoffs are from rankings, indexation or search demand shiftsRankings and Traffic both Dropped

Page Two RankingsReferrals from Page 2

Action: Identify low hanging fruit that can be optimized quicklyCould totally 301 this to www.opensiteexplorer.org

Action: Compare to ROI metrics; if they correlate, improve on keywords/landing pages with low time on siteAverage “upgrade to PRO” visitor spent a whopping 44 minutes on SEOmoz!

Action: Depending on your metrics, a “sweet spot” of pages browsed often dictates a conversion event – optimize towards itAverage “upgrade to PRO” visitor visits 12X the pages of an average visitor

Action: Find what content/activities/referrers send engaged traffic and copy those while improving subpar pages

Sharing/Linking Activity“Sharing Activity” Conversions

Action: Find patterns/sources that predict sharing activities (both content and CTAs) and make them testable conversion eventsGA allows you to set custom actions as “goals” then filter, monitor and improve on these metrics

SEO Masterclass Webit 2010

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