We Analyzed 203,900 Data Points to Answer the Question: Do Keywords Matter? | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

Let me start with a basic statement. Keywords aren’t that important anymore.

How can I be so sure about this? Because the data tells me so. First, let’s look at an example.

In a recent study, we cracked the Hummingbird algorithm code wide open. We analyzed 9.93 million words of content, smashed them together, shook them up and came up some astonishing results. Our focus was to understand exactly how Hummingbird works and how it ranks websites based on their content.

Our study analyzed select sites within a narrow niche and discovered how they ranked comparatively in select topics.

The top-ranked blogs did not necessarily have high keyword saturation, keyword representation or lots of high-DA backlinks.

What did the top ranked blogs have, if not keywords or backlinks?

They had strong topic coverage, few gaps in the topics that they covered and comprehensive content within each of their chosen topic categories.

In other words, they had really strong content, instead of a really strong link profile....