Something Weird Is Going On In Google’s SERPs via @sejournal, @martinibuster

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People are ever complaining that there’s thing incorrect with Google’s hunt results but what’s going connected with hunt results for queries with the acronym “SEO” is successful a people by itself and has to beryllium seen to beryllium believed.

Anomalies In Search Results

An anomaly is thing that deviates from the norm oregon what’s expected. A batch of clip erstwhile there’s thing incorrect with the hunt motor results pages (SERPs) the anomaly is explainable. For example, queries that harvester a geographical constituent with a comparatively longtail operation thin to make weird results. Another operator of unusual hunt results is erstwhile determination simply isn’t capable information astir a circumstantial operation of words, which sometimes leads to violative hunt results.

What’s happening with a peculiar radical of keyword phrases that are related to the connection “SEO ” is not immoderate of those kinds of anomalies. It’s a existent anomaly.

Here are the keywords that Google is (arguably) getting wrong:

  • SEO program
  • What is an SEO program?
  • SEO New York (City)
  • SEO NYC
  • SEO Conference
  • SEO Events
  • SEO Education
  • SEO Awards
  • SEO-USA.Org

The tract that’s ranking for each those SEO hunt queries (and astir apt more) is simply a tract called SEO-USA.org. The acronym SEO successful that website stands for Sponsors for Educational Opportunity. It’s not a spam site, it’s a legit non-profit website that’s been astir since 1963. The intent of the non-profit is to supply mentorship to young radical who are underserved to assistance them get into colleges and universities. That programme evolved successful the SEO Scholars, an 8 twelvemonth world programme for talented young radical to assistance them done precocious schoolhouse and college.

“SEO Scholars creates a much equitable nine by closing the world accidental spread for motivated young people, mounting the modular for academics, mentorship, community, peer-to-peer support, and a powerful, lifelong network.”

SEO-USA.org Is Not Relevant For SEO

The acronym SEO is heavy applicable for the discourse of online marketing. A hunt for “SEO” successful Google spawns suggestions that are each applicable for SEO successful the consciousness of hunt marketing.

Google Trends shows that the operation SEO Scholars and SEO Scholars Application are not wide searched successful the United States, astir of the searches hap successful New York. But SEO-USA.org is apical ranked for the radical of keywords listed supra successful different areas extracurricular of New York.

Screenshot Of SERPs For Keyword Phrase “SEO Awards”

It’s benignant of evident that SEO-USA.org is not applicable for the astir commonly understood meaning for the acronym SEO.

Could Backlinks Be The Reason?

It’s imaginable that the crushed SEO-USA.org is ranking for each of those phrases is due to the fact that of backlinks. A hunt for the domain sanction but restricted to .edu sites shows astir seventy .edu websites that nexus to the the SEO-USA.org domain name.

This is the precocious hunt that shows scores of .edu sites that nexus oregon notation SEO-USA.org:

"seo-usa.org" site:.edu"

Screenshot Of Site:.EDU Search

There are besides a ample magnitude of precocious prime sites with dot org domains that nexus to SEO-USA.org arsenic well, which is observable utilizing the pursuing precocious search:

"seo-usa.org" site:.org -site:seo-usa.org"

On the aboveground it looks wide that backlinks are the crushed wherefore SEO-USA.org ranks for irrelevant keywords.

But of course, the astir evident reply isn’t ever the close answer. There’s much to the picture.

Why Links Probably Don’t Explain The Rankings

If links were the crushed for SEO-USA.org’s rankings past it would travel that virtually each keyword operation related to SEO would beryllium littered with .edu and .org websites but that’s not the case.

I’ve been doing SEO for astir 25 years present and I retrieve the days erstwhile sites that had the maximum level of PageRank utilized to fertile for virtually anything. Also, dot edu links were regarded arsenic almighty due to the fact that SEOs were capable to fertile rather good with them.

Google’s algorithms improved and the effect from .edu links started to wane due to the fact that discourse of a nexus started counting more. The words successful the rubric constituent and the words successful the surrounding substance influenced the links. I cognize this excessively from my experience.

Another important alteration successful Google’s nexus ranking algorithms was to dampen the effect of quantity of links. It utilized to beryllium that an avalanche of links was capable to assistance a tract fertile implicit much authoritative sites. I cognize this from my acquisition too.

But the effect of a immense magnitude of links besides changed successful galore ways, similar hundreds of links from 1 domain stopped counting arsenic hundreds of links and began counting arsenic conscionable 1 link. The presumption of a nexus wrong a leafage besides mattered more, determination were tons of changes that whittled down the powerfulness of links truthful that little and little links mattered for the incorrect reasons.

I’m benignant of skeptical that links is the crushed wherefore SEO-USA.org ranks.

What’s The Answer?

For immoderate reason, a relevance origin is not kicking in, which allows the (arguably) irrelevant SEO-USA.org tract to fertile for keywords it astir apt shouldn’t fertile for.

I deliberation that’s a clue, a crushed for wherefore that tract is ranking wherever it should not. It’s slipping done due to the fact that thing is missing that would ordinarily beryllium determination to support it out.

It whitethorn precise good beryllium that there’s a origin related to trustworthiness that is allowing that tract to gaffe through. That’s conscionable speculation. Do you person immoderate ideas?

Featured Image by Shutterstock/SS 360