SEO TL;DR #6, Top 10 Rankings Factors, Link Building in 2024 & New GPT Store
SEO TL;DR - 08/01/2024
Welcome to the 1st edition of SEO TL;DR in 2024 🎇 Thankfully, Google tends to leave their algorithms alone around Christmas and New Year, which is nice as we SEOs like to take a break every once in a while. However, we’ve already had some interesting developments in 2024, which I’ll run through below.
Top ranking factors
Semrush have released their 2024 ranking factor study, which analysed 16,298 keywords. For each keyword, the top 20 search results were examined across a number of factors. Their goal is to show that SEO is not just about SGE (search generative experience), and that reverse engineering what makes a good ranking is still a core part of SEO.
Here are the top 10 factors that have the highest correlation with top rankings.
Text relevance - how closely does the content on your page match the user intent. The highest correlation by quite an amount, proving that content is still king 👑
URLs organic traffic - higher-ranked pages have more organic traffic compared to lower-ranked pages.
The study analysed 4,000,000 SERPs in order to calculate the average click-through rate for top-ranking pages. They found that the URL in position #1 has an average CTR of 27.6% while the page in #10 only received 2.6%!Domain’s organic traffic - domains with top-ranking pages tend to also have more top 20 organic positions.
URLs organic positions in top-20 - higher-ranking pages tend to have more top 20 spots for other keywords compared to lower-ranking pages.
Domain occurrences of Star Ratings - a good correlation between the number of star ratings in a domain’s pages’ organic listings and organic rankings.
While this is dependent on the type of query, it’s still crucial that you pay attention to your business’s reputation.Domain Authority Score (DAS) - top-ranking pages tend to be on domains with a high DAS.
The average DAS among the top 10 rankings is 67.42 (more on why DAS isn’t the best metric later on.)Domains organic positions in top-20 - domains with top-ranking pages tend to also have more top 20 organic positions.
Domain occurrences in images - sites that appear more in the image results have higher rankings in non-image results.
URL occurrences of star ratings - correlation between the number of star ratings a URL has and average rankings.
Page authority score (PAS) - similar to DAS; URLs with a higher PAS have higher rankings.
The study should act as inspiration, as SEO is often more challenging than people think. Semrush hopes their insights will spark a conversation about the many different facets of SEO and help SEOs think outside the box. Download the full Semrush study.
Top 4 most talked about things in 2023
Summarising SEO in 2023, Google Search Central posted a roundup video on X of the 4 most talked about topics from last year.
Technical SEO. Without a strong and working foundation, everything else you do on a site will struggle.
Search Algorithms. While Google hasn’t been announcing more updates, the talk about them has increased exponentially.
AI & Machine Learning. Google and the web is still working out ways to use AI in ways that are helpful to users, which is something we’ll see more of in 2024.
Structured Data. Adding this will help your pages get lined up quickly.
While the sentiment was there, it’s no surprise that the comments got a little toxic, with people using them to vent their frustration for being negatively impacted.
Another blow for link-building?
John Mueller of Google addressed a query on Reddit regarding the significance of certain links for search ranking. The question was about why a link from a parent company, deemed important, wasn't reflected in third-party link trackers and why it didn’t increase the site’s Domain Authority (DAS) and traffic.
Mueller clarified that link tracking tools don’t capture every link and that Google doesn't use DA, which is a third-party metric used by Semrush. He went on to clarify that PageRank is calculated on a per-page basis, meaning a link from a random page on a significant domain might not carry much weight.
For links from a parent company, a link from a persistent page, like the homepage, might be more effective than a link from a blog.
He went on to say “while understanding link dynamics is useful, it's important not to overly focus on them”. Coverage on Search Engine Roundtable
Increase your domain authority score to 50 for only £40
Sticking with link-building techniques, one Reddit user asked why everyone isn’t just buying a Fiverr service to boost their DA to >50?
The reality is these links have zero benefit. the best-case scenario for these types of links is that Google will ignore them. The worst - doing irreparable damage to your site by violating Google’s link spam policies.
Someone who didn’t take a break was Google's Mueller, who, every Christmas and New Year, takes the time to respond to people’s SEO questions on social media (one way to take the joy out of the holidays). Read all of John’s best responses summarised by Barry Schwartz over at Search Engine Roundtable.
GPT Store launching this week
A few users have shared the following message on social media, and very soon, you’ll be able to earn money based on how many people are using your GPT.
Dear GPT Builder,
We want to let you know that we will launch the GPT Store next week. If you’re interested in sharing your GPT in the store, you’ll need to:
Review our updated usage policies and GPT brand guidelines to ensure that your GPT is compliant
Verify your Builder Profile (settings > builder profile > enable your name or a verified website)
Publish your GPT as ‘Public’ (GPT’s with ‘Anyone with a link’ selected will not be shown in the store)
Thank you for investing time to build a GPT.
ChatGPT Team
GPTs will be searchable and may climb the leaderboards. GPT will spotlight the most useful and “delightful” GPTs they come across in categories like productivity, education, and “just for fun”.
The monetisation details are very scarce at the moment - but this could be a great opportunity for creative prompt creators to make some money. Sites like www.aiprm.com - which acts as a sort of GPT app store - already hase 1000s of active users and some very popular prompts covering everything from content creation to app development. I wouldn’t be surprised if lookalike prompts start appearing in the GPT store very soon.