More Proof That Everything In SEO Is Relative

Just saw this: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-ranking-signals-dynamic-24491.html

Basically it confirms what many of us here have long believed... that Google treats things on not just a "niche by niche" basis, but on a contextual basis. John Mueller essentially confirmed that even search queries change that context and what Google cares about when ranking a keyword.

No longer is ranking a keyword a straightforward formula by Google. And even things like search trends and real world events can affect HOW Google decides to judge and display the SERPS.

The significance of this isn't just straightforward as you may think, what I gleam from this is an explanation of why SOME keywords I encounter seem to need VERY fresh content to rank high, while others can rank highly forever assuming it has good enough links. Depending on the keyword Google is looking for different qualities out of the pages it ranks. Some keywords simply need high authority, some need to be popular socially, some need to have fresh content.... and many more things and combinations of things.

There IS no cookie cutter way to rank anymore. You need to look at the competition of a keyword-by-keyword basis and look for common traits among the winners.

-ThopHayt

If you were not aware of this you must be living on planet 9 mate.

It's been extremely obvious for a long time, what he's commenting on is "rank brain".

If users search for a product name, they probably want ecommerce stores or review sites.

If users are searching for types of food, give them recipe sites.

If they want a service like a "plumber" serve them local results...

It's really not rocket science and it's what you should be doing anyway to keep users happy and get them converting for you.

@ThopHayt stop promoting your website

But blasting the shit out of a site with links still ranks it on first page if you know how to get your link indexed in bulk.

aidenhera said:

@ThopHayt stop promoting your website

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You think I own SEO Roundtable lol? That's rich... maybe I own BHW too, then huh?

-ThopHayt

Nut-Nights said:

But blasting the shit out of a site with links still ranks it on first page if you know how to get your link indexed in bulk.

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Links are always right up there at the top of the equation... but I do think that there is a point that for certain keywords Google knows that the freshness of your website's content is important. You could have all the links you want, but if you're ranking the keyword "superman movie review" and your page is 3 years old and there is a NEW superman movie that just came out... Google is going to display reviews that are new ahead of you regardless. BUT... assuming you meet that criteria then yes, links WILL be crucial. You're right about that.

-ThopHayt

ThopHayt said:

There IS no cookie cutter way to rank anymore. You need to look at the competition of a keyword-by-keyword basis and look for common traits among the winners.
-ThopHayt

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Absolutely - I also think Google puts sites into different general area. Commercial - Semi commercial and Educational/informational and the requirements are different for each one - essp on site. But yes - your competition is your first port of call when doing SEO now. What are they doing - then "do one better".

Scritty said:

Absolutely - I also think Google puts sites into different general area. Commercial - Semi commercial and Educational/informational and the requirements are different for each one - essp on site. But yes - your competition is your first port of call when doing SEO now. What are they doing - then "do one better".

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You're exactly correct there... they definitely treat commercial very differently than say educational. In my opinion Google clamps down hardest on commercial, as in that sector SEO is a direct competitor to people spending dollars on their Adwords ads. Which is why in most commercial niches Google loves gobs and gobs of high authority... because this allows guys like Best Buy and Amazon to DOMINATE page one (sometimes without even being as topical or fresh), thus stoking the bidding for Adwords for everybody else. But, I'm starting to rant.

-ThopHayt

PepsiGuy said:

If you were not aware of this you must be living on planet 9 mate.

It's been extremely obvious for a long time, what he's commenting on is "rank brain".

If users search for a product name, they probably want ecommerce stores or review sites.

If users are searching for types of food, give them recipe sites.

If they want a service like a "plumber" serve them local results...

It's really not rocket science and it's what you should be doing anyway to keep users happy and get them converting for you.

Click to expand...

Yeah when I search plumber, even though I'm not at home at the moment. The first three results are my local, and two hotels, in Google places. Good old Google.

To say that they favor one type of site for certain keywords is misleading. If you google Vacuum cleaners do you get only ecommerce results? No. You get a couple of ecommerce stores, consumer report, a review site and a local result on the first page. Their link profiles can vary quite a bit. Google uses several on page factors, a review site could have longer average time user spends on the site, while an e-commerce store has activity but shorter average times spent on the site.

I think they look at the the click through rates for the page as a whole. Say you are on the first page, and all you see is e-commerce stores you might get 1000 click through for example. But if you mix it up and add some review sites, government bodies you might get 1200.

I don't think google says "OK lets put a review site, e-commerce site or predefined type of sites". The engineers at google aren't going to modify the algorithm to factor in human input.

But their algoritm gives points to certain on page factors, one might be one in X, while strong in A. This ensure some variety. It will constantly adjust the criteria to maximize click through rates and other indicators.

bismarck88 said:

To say that they favor one type of site for certain keywords is misleading. If you google Vacuum cleaners do you get only ecommerce results? No. You get a couple of ecommerce stores, consumer report, a review site and a local result on the first page. Their link profiles can vary quite a bit. Google uses several on page factors, a review site could have longer average time user spends on the site, while an e-commerce store has activity but shorter average times spent on the site.

I think they look at the the click through rates for the page as a whole. Say you are on the first page, and all you see is e-commerce stores you might get 1000 click through for example. But if you mix it up and add some review sites, government bodies you might get 1200.

I don't think google says "OK lets put a review site, e-commerce site or predefined type of sites". The engineers at google aren't going to modify the algorithm to factor in human input.

But their algoritm gives points to certain on page factors, one might be one in X, while strong in A. This ensure some variety. It will constantly adjust the criteria to maximize click through rates and other indicators.

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For the exact keyword "vacuum cleaners" I see (in order) Bissel, Bissel, Trusted Reviews, Hoover, eBay, Wikipedia, Shark, and Dyson as the top results... Except for the fact that there is Trusted Reviews I would not say it looks like they are concerned with variety either. What I see is your typical Google "same old big boys" (Trusted Reviews, eBay, and Wikipedia) along with the largest names in vacuums. This term is obviously a shopping term, yet Google did not populate it with a variety of educational articles about "Top 10 Vacuum cleaners of 2017" like they once did. What they did was (in my opinion and observation) post up the highest authority sites in the niche, along with a few high-authority fill-ins (the ever-present wikipedia). What I draw from this observation, along with a long line of what I've seen as the general trend, is Google realizing that this keyword is a potential shopping keyword. And don't you think that Google's AI takes into account what type of results get a good balance of "quality results" as well as a higher Adwords click-through? I sure believe it's likely... which is why I believe Google gives results like this. You can't argue that these are amazingly insightful results that are super helpful... anybody who wants a vacuum already knows the definition (wikipedia) and they have already heard of Dyson and Bissel of course. These results IMHO will mainly result in a higher ad click-through. Which is exactly what Google should want. On shopping terms just show the highest authority results. Search "florida flood" however and it is an entirely different story... late-breaking local news results dominate the results and there is a news widget right across the top of the screen. Why do you think there isn't a widget for buyers guides across broad shopping terms like "vacuum cleaners?" Probably because it would hurt the Adwords click through is my guess.

-ThopHayt

Its true, things vary from keyword to keyword making it difficult to identify a common trend. Looking at competition is the best way to proceed and when your competition is larger usual sites that rank for everything, things become even more confusing.

Sometimes I think that authors of the algorithm do not have an exact idea how their search engine works.

Nargil said:

Sometimes I think that authors of the algorithm do not have an exact idea how their search engine works.

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Well I know for a fact they don't. That is the problem with a neural net, it's a black box and you can't know how/why it comes to a conclusion... BUT you definitely CAN set the goals. And you can bet that making more money is at the top of the list.

-ThopHayt

Nargil said:

Sometimes I think that authors of the algorithm do not have an exact idea how their search engine works.

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This ^

Or they like to spread false data to minimize the success of our SEO efforts by guiding us to the wrong direction on purpose.

Very interesting theories. I agree mostly. Google a) understands more and more about user intent and b) has so much information to draw conclusions from in real time - think that google has access to all the traits of all of its users at any given point in time. That is seriously powerful amount of information that google have to hand and can draw conclusions from, see trends in.

aidenhera said:

@ThopHayt stop promoting your website

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huh?

Nargil said:

Sometimes I think that authors of the algorithm do not have an exact idea how their search engine works.

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It's machine learning, that's exactly what is supposed to happen.

Nargil said:

Sometimes I think that authors of the algorithm do not have an exact idea how their search engine works.

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They have hundreds of engineers in various groups working on different parts of the algo, so most of them only know a part, and not the full picture.