SEO ranking factors for 2018

At recent panel of SEO experts, there were some interesting takeaways on the current state of SEO and how certain assumptions might be wrong. Here are a few of the interesting observations from the panel of experts:

Mobile content length

Everything we hear about content production for mobile devices says to keep the content short for easier consumption on smaller screens for people on the move. However, the panel found in testing that although shorter content is better for consumption, longer content still outranks shorter content on mobile.

Number of referring domains

We all know that backlinks still matter and that the more you have the better. However, it appears that the number of referring domains matters more than the number of backlinks. This discovery leads us to believe that each additional link from the same domain has less significance than the previous.

Niche specific media

Another outcome of the tests run by the panel dealt with using media appropriate for the niche in question. For example, top ranking divorce content has almost no videos, while fitness sites tend to have at least one. There is a possibility that Google has some form of niche recognition and applies different media scoring by niche.

If anything, the panel shows two things: 1) SEO is changing and quite rapidly, 2) no assumption or rumor is safe, unless proven by data.