For 14 years now, Rand Fishkin has established a study on SEO once every two years. The goal is to survey SEOs to get their opinion on the criteria determining the position of the SERP results. Here are the conclusions of this study analyzed by your natural referencing agency (SEO) Power traffic.
The Course Of The Study
This year, there are 1584 supposed SEO professionals with varying degrees of experience who have played the game and responded to SparkToro’s online survey from August 6-27. They had to give themselves a score on their level and SEO experience. And to frame the experiment, Rand Fishkin selected the 26 elements that have the most impact on Google SEO. But, before getting to the heart of the study, he evaluated the SEOs about their position on the criteria that Google’s algorithm takes to weigh the organic results.
Two-thirds of the respondents answered that the algorithm varies enormously in how it weights SEO, depending on the queries. Therefore, the results of this study should be interpreted in light of these potential discrepancies. The first point of this study was around organic referencing in a very global way. SEOs had to score the 26 SEO factors based on their impact on SEO; 0 means that the criterion has little impact, while ten means that it is a factor that weighs heavily in the balance.
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First of all, the SEO factors that have the most significant impact on organic SERP results are:
- Content relevance
- The quality of the linking of the site and the page
- The use of words/phrases related to the query
And on the contrary, the criteria with the most negligible impact on Google SEO are:
- Keywords in the domain name
- The use of external links
- The use of Google AMP
For most ranked items, SEOs have the same impressions. Nevertheless, there are a few factors that are at the heart of discrepancies, such as:
- Keywords in the domain name
- The use of Google AMP
- The age of the site
Then, to complete this first part of the study, Rand Fishkin compared the complete results of the impact on organic SEO to those of SEOs who consider themselves to be expert SEOs (129 out of 1584). The results from this comparison are consistent with what the 1584 SEOs think. The most significant differences are noted in the use of keywords in the URL, which goes from 5.22 to 4.16, and the site’s age, which goes from 5 to 4.03. Otherwise, the results remain in the same waters.
Finally, the founder of SparkToro directed the poll towards the “SEO of the future”; he sought the opinions of SEO professionals on the impact that specific trends will have three years from now. According to the 1584 SEOs, Google’s competition on publishers with their launched verticals (such as their services avoiding browsing other sites), advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, and then the Zero-Click trend will be the three trends having a significant impact on the SEO of tomorrow.
Thoughts Following The Study
As a result of these results, there are a few lessons to be learned. First, this is the first time in 14 years of study that content is more critical to SEOs than links or keywords. First, keywords dominated, then links took over. But now, according to SEO specialists, content relevance and quality have more impact on organic results. Algorithmic search engine updates may also be related to these changes.
Then, Rand Fishkin expressed his astonishment following two results: the positions of the “age of the site” and the “number of contents.” He finds that there needs to be more clarity around these factors. According to him, they should not be placed so high among the 26 SEO elements because Google does not use them for its organic SEO.
Then, the creator of SparkToro laments, having forgotten a point that seems rather important to him: the geographical trend. He would have liked to ask the SEO specialists responding to this study where they practiced their activity. According to him, there is a correlation between geographic or idiomatic location and SERP results. He says he intends to demonstrate this in the future.
What To Remember?
This study conducted by SparkToro brings freshness to the ideas of SEO referrers. By involving them themselves, it is as if they were conducting round tables and exchanging between professionals in the same field. In addition, the concept also provides more simplified answers to digital enthusiasts, although they only sometimes reflect the absolute truth all the time.
Anyway, do not hesitate to contact your SEO agency. Its experts will be on hand to answer your questions and help you move forward with your SEO strategy.
Also Read: Google’s “Zero-Click” Is A Major SEO Subject Of Contention!
