From the SMX Advanced Conference in Seattle, Washington, June 2-3, 2015. SESSION: The Periodic Table Of SEO Ranking Factors: 2015 Edition. PRESENTATION: New Ranking Correlation Study: New Data - Given by Cyrus Shepard, @cyrusshepard - Moz, Director of Audience. #SMX #11A

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New Ranking Correlation Study:
Early Data

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Methodology
Dr. Matthew Peters, Scientist at Moz

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Methodology
• Top 50 Google Results
• ~15,000 Keywords

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“Correlation is not causation”
but it sure is a
HINTEdward Tufte

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why HINTS are important
Nobody knows what the rankings factors are
• Machine Learning, i.e. Panda
• User inputs, i.e. engagement
https://moz.com/blog/seo-correlation-causation

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An example…
“Are .com domains associated
with higher rankings?”

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org
com
info
net
edu
biz
-0.01 correlation
“No”

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org
com
info
net
edu
biz
-0.04 correlation
Little difference between TLDs

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org
com
info
net
edu
biz
% of Each Feature in Top 50
10.7%
77.5%
0.2%
2.3%
2.4%
0.1%

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Links – a more significant relationship

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Question:
“Can I rank without links?”

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The Data Says:
73.5% of pages had at least 1 external link
99.8% of subdomains had external links
*Seems unlikely

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Anchor Text – very strong!

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Keyword in Title Tag - Kinda weak!

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Keyword in Title Tags – Does our perception match reality?

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But wait…
Perhaps keywords have more relevance than we know…

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Social Shares – High correlation, but likely not an actual ranking factor

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Social Shares – High correlation, but likely not an actual ranking factor
Decreasing
Increasing

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HTTPS / SSL
0.04 Correlation (14.3% of all results)
Could be the “tie-breaker” Google claims

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Is Schema.org a ranking factor?
-0.01 correlation (~0)
http://builtvisible.com/micro-data-schema-org-guide-generating-rich-snippets/

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Schema.org – Low Adoption
Only found in 1.8% of top 50 results

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Schema ≠ Rich Snippets
Still recommended: beneficial for other reasons

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hreflang tag – moderate correlation
0.14 Correlation (8.2% of results)

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Spam Flags: Negative Correlations
1. The site link profile is not trustworthy -0.07

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Spam Flags: Negative Correlations
2. Large site without many inbound links -0.07

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Spam Flags: Negative Correlations
3. Links to this subdomain come from an unusually
small number of pages -0.09

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Spam Flags: Negative Correlations
The more spam flags, the higher
the probability of penalization
https://moz.com/help/guides/moz-api/mozscape/getting-started-with-mozscape/spam-score

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Lowest Correlated Factor:
URL length in characters: -0.11
https://mox.com/go?
id=1500SHurl4FwdURLA2N04URL.co.ukcMinilien5rTightURL080f4krMyURLqbcShredURLShorlA2N301URL10z18tallcjCanURL491X.sesustained4rangyPiURL7rPiURL9NutshellURLrunni
ng000greatlongish6Dwarfurll1t16URLf0c9MyURLd1920drawn%2Boutenduring1vlastingRubyURLprotracted7804c3lingeringj13c01a135Xil0CanURL11loftyDwarfurlnDigBig7spun
%2BoutURLPie6105a3lankya3YATUC184501261expandedq9ShortURLenlarged4ya11longish84high110enlargedv01lasting1r5longishlankyjd66z03stretchedrangym01058TraceURL11c4pr
otractedprolonged14ShortenURL149eUrlTeaBeam.to1002e350awcb213Sitelutions2MetamarkMooURLTinyURLgangling139na71zSnipURL71far
%2Boff0URLPietuulnk.in11069ShortURLspread%2Boutenduringenduringsustained7YepItremote96t1ganglingfspread
%2Bout7ee6DecentURL1X.setowering2nyk0ShortURLganglingcstretch2400ShortURLb7k1EasyURL10060GetShortyTinyLinkDecentURL80301URLURLCutter2ShrinkURL9spun
%2Boutd3A2N1ytalllingering079s6be1X.se0lankyCanURL0URLPies4far%2BoffaoSnipURL2c0b1extensive434SnipURL2q7enduringenlarged3800far
%2Breaching102l39w1bMetamarkloftyz0e7SHurl3q1highlingering1elongateremotestretcheddgreat8623785dURl.ierangyfar
%2Breaching32protracted14ShrinkURL71Shim16deepShrinkURLgYepItIs.gdjDwarfurlclloftyMooURLkURLcut51301URLdistant00lofty08URLCutterNutshellURL11NutshellURLlofty78stretc
hingShorl3ganglingShortenURLPiURLPiURLl7continuedoutstretched6protractedhrPiURL1RubyURL31e11Xil4nstretchinguWapURLlengthenedtowering841500u10sustained21x00z1404o4
1bextensivejdistant0MooURLfaraway9b0rangydistant3deep75URLPie0l5izWapURLt11gdeep50protractedt5a0008lnk.inlofty0elongatedPiURL6URL2fMetamarkym88lengthyNotLong1f8U76
b1enduringtx3U761stretchedv4389greatcPiURLa0101Fly2G8LGetShorty0elongatedprolonged790enlarged07A2N0spun
%2Boutd11f571continued071DecentURLUrlTeaecTinyURLgreat021i1l9stretchDwarfurld6URL44lnk.int0NutshellURLsrunningprotractedenlarged330great177x8NotLongz04far
%2Boffa10091zG8L2Smallr61delongate0050G8L1sustainedCanURL115d29TinyURLDwarfurlFwdURL4NotLong01X.se03ShrinkURL1EasyURLa80deep9b5SnipURLspun
%2Boutelongate5030k2qcontinuede5706110LiteURLaDigBig60prolonged00cremoteFhURL4drawn%2Bout1farawayf9s6ShortenURLe
Use short, human-readable URLs!

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Highest Correlated Factor
Page Authority: +0.39
https://moz.com/learn/seo/page-authority

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Thank you!
Watch for the full study this summer!
Cyrus Shepard
Director of Audience Development