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00:00:00 – 00:21:31
In this video, the speaker explores the significant implications of a source code leak from Yandex, a Russian search engine, by a former employee on January 27, 2023. The leak, which revealed over 1900 page rank factors, offers valuable insights into SEO practices and search engine ranking mechanisms, even drawing parallels with Google. The video delves into various aspects of SEO, highlighting important elements like the evaluation of good and bad backlinks, the impact of link age, the role of user behavior in ranking, and the importance of high-quality content and site architecture.
Key takeaways include the necessity of avoiding 404 errors, the benefits of obtaining backlinks from authoritative sites, and the strategic use of keyword-rich URLs and Google Maps for local businesses. Specifics such as avoiding capital letters in titles, optimizing internal links, and ensuring server reliability are also discussed. The speaker emphasizes the importance of retaining user interest through direct traffic and high engagement metrics, while also noting the positive influence of verified social media accounts and effective use of Google Analytics.
The video also touches on the concept of "hard pessimization," the relationship between PPC and rankings, the importance of crawl depth, and the potential impact of branded search queries. Tools like Screaming Frog are recommended for analyzing site architecture, and there's advice on bookmarking and maintaining a reasonable ratio of advertisements. In conclusion, the speaker encourages SEO optimization and continuous improvement, leveraging insights from the Yandex leak, and invites viewers to subscribe for more content.
00:00:00
In this part of the video, the speaker discusses a significant event from January 27, 2023, where Yandex, a Russian search engine, experienced a source code leak by a former employee. This leak included over 1900 different page rank factors used by Yandex to rank websites. The speaker aims to delve deeper into the details of the leak, explaining its implications for the SEO community and examining some of the leaked page rank factors. The information, initially in Russian and hosted on webmarketingschool.com, was later translated and made searchable by various individuals and tools. Despite some factors being outdated or deprecated, the leak provides valuable insights into search engine ranking mechanisms. The speaker emphasizes that while Yandex and Google are different, the leak still offers a broader understanding of search engine functionalities, such as tracking direct visits versus search engine referrals.
00:03:00
In this part of the video, the speaker discusses leaked ranking factors from Yandex and their implications for SEO, suggesting that some factors previously theorized about Google’s ranking system now have some proof through Yandex. The speaker shows interest in a Twitter thread discussing similarities between Google and Yandex, noting that some believe such comparisons are useless, but the speaker disagrees. They highlight the importance of understanding how search engines rank pages, even if some data is outdated. The speaker plans to delve into actual ranking factors from the leaked documents, mentioning an SEO expert, Alex Brax, whose analysis they follow. An example discussed includes the evaluation of “good” and “bad” links by the search engine, which aligns with the speaker’s practice of maintaining a blacklist of bad links.
00:06:00
In this part of the video, several important aspects of SEO are covered. First, the age of links as a ranking factor is discussed, suggesting that links decay over time and need to be refreshed regularly to maintain rankings. Second, the impact of PPC on rankings is mentioned, with the emphasis on having more than just organic traffic. Third, the use of numbers in URLs is discouraged for better rankings. Fourth, the topic of trailing slashes in URLs is explored, advocating for a simpler URL structure with fewer trailing slashes. Lastly, the concept of “hard pessimization,” meaning penalization by Google resulting in a PageRank of zero, is addressed.
00:09:00
In this part of the video, the speaker discusses several SEO factors. Number six emphasizes the importance of avoiding 404 errors and ensuring server reliability. Number seven highlights the preferential ranking treatment for Wikipedia pages. Number eight connects user behavior to ranking, stressing the need for high click-through rates, prolonged user sessions, and minimal back button clicks. Number nine talks about the significance of document age and last updates, advising regular content refreshes and republishing. The speaker also mentions the tactic of pruning low-ranking content to potentially boost overall search performance. Finally, they bring up the topic of crawl depth, explaining its relevance through tools like Screaming Frog to analyze how far pages are from the homepage.
00:12:00
In this part of the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of keeping essential pages, known as hub pages, easily accessible from the home page to optimize crawl depth for SEO. They advise treating all SEO ranking factors as equally important since it’s unclear how each is weighted. Key actions include finding and addressing orphan pages through tools like Screaming Frog and ensuring good site architecture to enhance internal linking.
The speaker also discusses the significance of branded search queries and getting backlinks from authoritative sites like Wikipedia. There’s a suggestion to optimize for the final search session page, ensuring users find what they are looking for on your site. Bookmarking is mentioned as a ranking factor, and although its weight might be low, adding a bookmark option could benefit search rankings. Lastly, special ranking factors for short videos like TikTok and Instagram Reels are acknowledged but not elaborated on.
00:15:00
In this part of the video, several ranking factors for SEO are discussed. Including a Google map embed on a local business page might boost rankings. Having keywords in the URL is important, as is creating valuable content that encourages returning users. Capital letters in titles should be avoided. Direct traffic is beneficial, as it indicates user interest beyond organic search. Content quality is critical, so ensure embedded videos are functional. Verified social media accounts can influence rankings. Lastly, using keyword-rich anchor text for backlinks is recommended, but it should be varied to avoid penalties.
00:18:00
In this part of the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of obtaining high-quality backlinks instead of bad ones, explaining that bad backlinks often come from link farms or sites with poor content. They mention using on-page metrics like scroll depth, take rate, dwell time, and bounce rate to assess content quality. Additionally, the ratio of advertisements on a website should be kept reasonable to avoid negative impact. The speaker also notes that including Google Analytics JavaScript may provide a ranking boost and stresses the significance of backlinks from top websites with high PageRank, like the New York Times or Washington Post. The segment concludes with a recap of SEO takeaways from the Yandex leak, reinforcing the importance of these factors in search engine considerations.
00:21:00
In this segment of the video, the speaker encourages viewers to rethink and optimize their websites, using insights from Yandex’s past practices, even though some of the search and page factors discussed may be outdated or deprecated. The content provides an interesting perspective on search engine operations and prompts viewers to like and subscribe to the channel for more content.