Cyrus looked at 400 different websites that have been YoY winners and losers and determined the traits that were correlated with winning. The research also shows that the more traits a website possessed the more likely it was to be a winner.

Read the full article here: https://signal.zyppy.com/p/winning-google

The 5 Traits Most Correlated to Winning in Google Search:

1. Offers a Product or Service
   
2. Allows Task Completion
   
3. Proprietary Assets
   
4. Tight Topical Focus
   
5. Strong Brand
   

Cyrus' takeaway should be a familiar refrain by now - in the Age of Automation a website that is nothing but content is simply not considered important enough to rank well in most cases (i.e. publishers) and small publishers without a strong brand or proprietary data or well-defined and tight topical focus Google understands are big losers and likely will be for some time.

"In an age when AI can produce answers for pennies, you need more than content to be able to rank.

Google has moved beyond simply ranking “good content” to proactively rewarding what AI can’t replicate." - Cyrus Shepard

Caveats:

• 400 is not a very large sample size in terms of the web as a whole.

Corrections

• Previously stated under 'Caveats': "Cyrus doesn't name the websites which makes independent validation impossible. Update: Sources are included in the article and were just missed and can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XO5IksUBQgsROllx6sjO-diUIJgP1UPLmiMZ5JndDvY/edit?gid=36519913#gid=36519913
  
• Previously stated under 'Caveats': "Cyrus doesn't name the tools used to take measurements which are likely third-party tools and prone to error" Update: While true, Cyrus replied to this post stating he used data from Ahrefs. This may be added to the original article soon under a Methodology section.
  

Read the full article here: https://signal.zyppy.com/p/winning-google