37 experts in the search engine optimisation field voted on what factors they thought comprise Google’s ranking algorithm and the results were compiled by SEOmoz. Other than getting the information directly from Google, I can’t think of a better source of information.
Definitely worth reading when you have a spare few hours to work on your site. The guide to Search Engine Ranking Factors is split into the Top 10 Positive Factors (listed below), Top 5 Negative Factors and Most Controversial Factors.
Top 10 Positive Factors
- Keyword Use in Title Tag
- Global Link Popularity of Site
- Anchor Text of Inbound Link
- Link Popularity within the Site’s Internal Link Structure
- Age of Site
- Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site
- Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community
- Keyword Use in Body Text
- Global Link Popularity of Linking Site
- Rate of New Inbound Links to Site
Great report, very insightful. I love the ongoing disagreement among the experts.
Seriously, I believe that if you build a site of quality content, add quality content on a regular basis, and do a fair amount of promotion – you will get new inbound links at a consistent rate and your “street cred” will grow.
Google is investing enormous amounts of money to build the intelligence to spot the “good sites – for real” from the “looks close enough to be a good site to make me lots’a adsense dough” sites.
Yeah, there are plenty of “basic” SEO items to be mindful of and to do (use meta tags, good headlines, good filename/slug structure, etc.) – but in the end you can over-SEO yourself into insanity.
Have an awesome day!
Dan