About Rand Fishkin
Rand Fishkin uses the ludicrous title, Wizard of Moz. He’s founder and former CEO of Moz, co-author of a pair of books on SEO, and co-founder of Inbound.org. Rand’s an unsaveable addict of all things content, search, & social on the web, from his multiple blogs to Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, and a shared Instagram account. In his minuscule spare time, he likes to galavant around the world with Geraldine and then read about it on her superbly enjoyable travel blog.
In his Learn Inbound talk, Rand covers Moz’s recently released search ranking factors correlation data, opinions of the SEO field collected via survey, and the results of some recent tests performed on Google. Together, these will help illustrate how the search giant is ranking things today, and what tactics are working in SEO.
Key Takeaways
- Social shares don’t factor for rankings, or at least they factor minimally. There is a small correlation between heavily shared content, but it usually doesn’t have a knock-on effect.
- However, social engagement on the page is of some importance. Onsite engagement does factor into the rankings.
- Social shares on their own aren’t enough; amplification and outreach are vital to earning links. Don’t be afraid to pay/work for links from trusted sources.
- While the algorithm may be flattening and the SERPs are growing increasingly smart, link-building and outreach are still the missing pieces in an already very complex jigsaw.