Presentation I gave at SMX in London with Danny Sullivan and others. Looking at Google ranking ranking factors, what's new, what's trending and what's next

1. The Periodic Table of
SEO Ranking Factors
2014 edition

2. Grant Simmons
VP of Search Strategies
Dominion Homes Media

3. • Proud expat Brit (22+ yrs)
• Essex lad (always will be!)
• Proud American with a funny accent
• New Zealanders don’t understand me

Where am
I from?

4. @simmonet
#SMX
resources:
http://unop.me/smxlon

5. @simmonet

6. Let’s Go!
• Periodic Table of SEO What?
• Ranking Factor Element Trends
• Missing Ranking Factor Elements
• Ranking Factor Compounds

7. Search Engine
Optimization
@simmonet
factors for ranking

9. Search Engine
Optimization
@simmonet
factors for ranking

10. Search Engine
UnOptimization
@simmonet
factors for ranking

11. Google Algorithm Updates

12. Take a Fresh Look
At Your Link Graph & Content

13. Penguin: Link “Naturalness”

14. YIKES!
Link Graphs Should Be UnOptimized
• Anchor text to brand / site
• Inter-site linking i.e. footer links
• Dofollow links to nofollow links
• Internal linking for users NOT Google
This obviously isn’t for users

15. zere are
no absolutes

16. Panda: Content Value

17. Content is Over optimized
scale over
substance
substance
over scale

18. Content Should be UnOptimized
Content production needs to change from:
• Auto-generated to human-generated*
• ‘Thin’ to valuable
• Patterned to unique
• Scale to reasonable amount
• Generalists to authorities
better
*Cool new technologies may change this POV

19. Take a Fresh Look
At Your Link Graph & Content

20. Tools
Link Graph
• Open Site Explorer
• Majestic SEO
• Google Webmaster Tools
Content
• Screaming Frog
• Google SERP

21. So What’s Trending?
@simmonet

22. So What’s Trending
@simmonet

23. Search Visibility Trends
Content
• Quality & Freshness
• Engagement (far beyond the bounce)
• Speed of Delivery (especially Mobile)

24. Search Visibility Trends
Links
• Waning: Anchor Text, Number & Paid
• Waxing: Quality Velocity, Freshness,
Relationship (how page topics / titles are
related) and alignment (not correlation)
with Social signals

25. Search Visibility Trends
Trust factors
• Social Reputation
• Topic Expertise
• Organic Reach / Amplification
“Digital Footprint”

26. So What’s Missing?
@simmonet

27. Better Facilitated Crawl

28. XML Sitemaps
Better Crawls =
Better Indexing Potential
• News / Recent
• Indexing reporting
• Link / Page Updates
• Media – images / video
• hreflang – language specific

29. SEO Element Compounds
The Whole is Greater
Than the Sum of its Parts
@simmonet

31. The Fun Bit
Building SEO Compounds
@simmonet
bwaahahaahaa!

32. Freshness SEO Compound
Cf3Ac2At = Indexing Factor
Combination of fresh content within an
efficient site structure & great XML sitemap
implementation to allow quicker
& expanded index inclusion.
Fresh+ = rank worthy

33. Cf3Ac2At = Indexing Factor
Image: www.metropublisher.com

34. Engagement SEO Compounds
Ht2HdHs = CTR Factor
Combining best practice Titles & Meta
Descriptions with Structured Data
creates SERP environment for
increased Click Through Rates.
CTR is an important signal

35. Ht2Hd = CTR Factor
• Understand the query
intent & context
• Optimize for CTR
“is it clickable?”
• Don’t let Google
make decision
(align with query)

36. Ht2HdHs = CTR Factor
• Understand the query
intent & context
• Optimize for CTR
“is it clickable?”
• Don’t let Google
make decision
(align with query)

37. Engagement SEO Compounds
Ac2Cw4Ce = Relevance Path Factor
Combining good silos with distinct user
engagement actions – creates consistent
interaction and clear hierarchies
of topic relevance.
Inspiring consistent onsite
engagement is important

38. Ac2Cw4Ce = Relevance Path Factor

39. Ac2Cw4Ce = Relevance Path Factor

40. Ac2Cw4Ce = Relevance Path Factor

41. Lots More Compound Hypotheses

42. We’re Done!
• Periodic Table of SEO What?
• Ranking Factor Element Trends
• Missing Ranking Factor Elements
• Ranking Factor Compounds

43. Thank You
resources: http://unop.me/smxlon

44. Questions?
resources: http://unop.me/smxlon

45. @simmonet
#SMX
resources:
http://unop.me/smxlon

46. Grant Simmons
VP of Search Strategies
Dominion Homes Media

47. The Periodic Table of
SEO Ranking Factors
2014 edition