SEOMoz has created a list of the top current Search Engine Ranking Factors as defined by 37 top search engine optimization specialists, including Search Engine Watch/Land founder Danny Sullivan. Below are the main on and offsite factors examined.
Top 10 Positive Factors
1. Keyword Use in Title Tag
2. Global Link Popularity of Site
3. Anchor Text of Inbound Link
4. Link Popularity within the Site’s Internal Link Structure
5. Age of Site
6. Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site
7. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community
8. Keyword Use in Body Text
9. Global Link Popularity of Linking Site
10. Rate of New Inbound Links to SiteTop 5 Negative Factors
1. Server is Often Inaccessible to Bots
2. Content Very Similar or Duplicate of Existing Content in the Index
3. External Links to Low Quality/Spam Sites
4. Participation in Link Schemes or Actively Selling Links
5. Duplicate Title/Meta Tags on Many Pages
Lets look at Google Ranking Questions. It is immediately apparent that there is total disagreement in the importance of each specific element. While they all disagree, it is interesting to note they
Which of the following algorithmic components do you believe to be most important Google’s rankings?
- 56% the authority & trust of a domain
- 35% the external links pointing to an individual page
- 9% keyword based relevance of an individual page
Wow! Ask different SEO’s the same question and you get a different answer! A fair difference of opinion here. Lets look at another question.
What is your opinion of Google’s sandbox – the effect whereby newly registered websites (or those that have recently changed ownership) experience a period of low recognition and rankings in Google’s SERP’s?
- 38% the effect is more prevalent than it was 6-12 months ago
- 32% the effect never existed
- 21% the effect is less prevalent than it was 6-12 months ago
- 9% the effect appears to have changed little over the last 6-12 months
Holy Smokes! 1/3 of the top SEO’s believe a Google sandbox doesn’t exist and the remaining have different opinions on its intensity over the last year.
What impresses me about this data is that all the people reporting are successful in promoting websites and have a thorough understanding search engine algorithms. So if these skilled folk all do well with different methods what should you do?
Follow the instructions in ranking factors article, write good content and get lots of good sites to link to you. Yes it’s that simple.
Read more with Paul Wolbers, SEO Logs, Hongkiat, Yugatech, SEO Scoop, Biz Report, Marketing Pilgrim, Kiss SEO & Connected Internet.