Analyzing Ranking Factors

SEOmoz periodically conducts surveys of leading search engine optimizers to determine what they think are the most important ranking factors (http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors). Here is a high-level summary of the top nine results:

  • Page Level Link Metrics

  • Domain Level Link Authority Features

  • Page Level Keyword Usage

  • Domain Level Keyword Usage

  • Page Level Social Metrics

  • Domain Level Brand Metrics

  • Page Level Keyword Agnostic Features

  • Page Level Traffic/Query Data

  • Domain Level Keyword Agnostic Features

Here is a brief look at each of these:

Page Level Link Metrics

This refers to the links as related to the specific page, such as the number of links, the relevance of the links, and the trust and authority of the links received by the page.

Domain Level Link Authority Features

Domain level link authority is based on a cumulative link analysis of all the links to the domain. Factors considered include the number of different domains linking to the site, the trust/authority of those domains, the rate at which new inbound links are added, the relevance of the linking domains, and more.

Page Level Keyword Usage

This describes use of the keyword term/phrase in particular parts of the HTML code on the page (title element, <h1>s, alt attributes, etc.).

Domain Level Keyword Usage

This refers to how keywords are used in the root or subdomain name, and how impactful that might be on search engine rankings.

Page Level Social Metrics

Social metrics considered include mentions, ...

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