[Hot] SEO Ranking Factors in 2017: What You Need to Know
In the last few years, Google has been surprisingly forthright about the search engines' "ranking factors, the "200 unique signals or 'clues' that make it possible to surface what you might be looking for" (Quote source: Google).
As we noted last October, Google has clarified their top three ranking factors: links, content, and RankBrain.
Read: Google's Top Three Ranking Factors: Links, Content, and RankBrain
However, these "top three" ranking factors likely contain many nuances. We know, too, what was once relevant may no longer be relevant: Google's algorithm evolves to match technology as well as user behavior.
A.I., for example, is the latest technologies to take search by storm. A few years ago Google’s Chief Executive Officer, Sundar Pichai, was giddy about the possibilities: “Machine learning is a core transformative way by which we are rethinking everything we are doing."
Since then, Google has used the technology to discover "new signals and new signal aggregations," which help the search engine improve the quality of results (Quote source: Search Engine Land).
Read: RankBrain and the Future of SEO
User behavior, on the other hand, may have a more direct influence on ranking factors. Since 2015, mobile has accounted for a majority of all daily searches. Google's latest major algorithm change, Hummingbird, was developed, in part, to accommodate longer, more complex questions--the sort of questions typical of mobile users, who use voice commands often.
As technology and user behavior change, then, the search engines change to keep pace. At Search Engine Land's recent SEO event, SMX East, a panel discussed ranking factors. What did the experts have to say? We discuss the key findings below...
The Top Sites Are All Optimized
SEMRush, a digital marketing firm that sells a "powerful and versatile competitive intelligence suite," analyzed the top 100 positions for 600,000 keywords. The findings included notable stats on links, keywords, and content, the three key concentrations for most SEO firms.
According to SEMRush, links are still "super-important," yet some evidence suggests that the importance of certain keyword usages may be declining: "35 percent of domains ranking for high-volume keywords don’t have the keyword in the title" and "very few links contain a keyword in the anchor text."
Essentially, as Search Engine Land suggests, these numbers point to the search engine's evolving ability to determine the context of a page without relying upon keywords.
Coupled with another finding from SEMRush, that content length had a positive correlation with rankings, one can deduce that keywords matter less than relevance.
Finally, SEMRush's "most important" ranking factors, user signals and direct website traffic, emphasize user behavior, which led the firm's representative, Olga Andrienko, to speculate that "top-ranking sites...are all doing on-page optimization well, meaning that Google needs new criteria to differentiate among these sites."
In other words, all successful sites are doing optimization; without SEO a website has little chance to compete. But you know that, right?
Read: Is Indecisiveness About SEO Costing You Money?
Optimize For Your Niche Audience
Searchmetrics did agree with some of SEMRush's findings, but the Enterprise SEO company performed a different sort of analysis, focusing on general trends verse niche (industry specific trends).
Like SEMRush, Searchmetrics found that keywords were not essential in page titles, and that content length matters: "word count correlates with rankings."
Yet Searchmetrics additional findings, about industry-specific trends, offered more nuance. Searchmetrics found that ranking factors differ for each niche industry and/or niche website:
"HTTPS is a bigger deal for finance sites, as those require more user trust; however, it does not seem to be as heavily weighted for travel sites. Usage of images, on the other hand, was not so important for finance websites but had a larger impact for travel sites."
The lesson here, obviously, is that you have to build your website with your end-user in mind. What is important yo your idea customer?
Read: SEO 101: Industry-Specific Keywords
***
Search Engine Land offers a few more tips for putting these findings into action.
For more information: SEO Ranking Factors in 2017: What’s Important and What’s Not
Optimize For the Top Ranking Factors with Stepman's SEO
If you're looking for an SEO company that understands how to effectively promote websites with specific keywords and intriguing content that satisfies search engine ranking factors, contact our sponsor, Stepman's SEO: 215-900-9398.
Stepman's SEO combines traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--with an emphasis on natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective content marketing campaigns.
As we noted last October, Google has clarified their top three ranking factors: links, content, and RankBrain.
Read: Google's Top Three Ranking Factors: Links, Content, and RankBrain
However, these "top three" ranking factors likely contain many nuances. We know, too, what was once relevant may no longer be relevant: Google's algorithm evolves to match technology as well as user behavior.
A.I., for example, is the latest technologies to take search by storm. A few years ago Google’s Chief Executive Officer, Sundar Pichai, was giddy about the possibilities: “Machine learning is a core transformative way by which we are rethinking everything we are doing."
Since then, Google has used the technology to discover "new signals and new signal aggregations," which help the search engine improve the quality of results (Quote source: Search Engine Land).
Read: RankBrain and the Future of SEO
User behavior, on the other hand, may have a more direct influence on ranking factors. Since 2015, mobile has accounted for a majority of all daily searches. Google's latest major algorithm change, Hummingbird, was developed, in part, to accommodate longer, more complex questions--the sort of questions typical of mobile users, who use voice commands often.
As technology and user behavior change, then, the search engines change to keep pace. At Search Engine Land's recent SEO event, SMX East, a panel discussed ranking factors. What did the experts have to say? We discuss the key findings below...
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| SEO ranking factors change over time to match technology and user behavior [Photo Source] |
The Top Sites Are All Optimized
SEMRush, a digital marketing firm that sells a "powerful and versatile competitive intelligence suite," analyzed the top 100 positions for 600,000 keywords. The findings included notable stats on links, keywords, and content, the three key concentrations for most SEO firms.
According to SEMRush, links are still "super-important," yet some evidence suggests that the importance of certain keyword usages may be declining: "35 percent of domains ranking for high-volume keywords don’t have the keyword in the title" and "very few links contain a keyword in the anchor text."
Essentially, as Search Engine Land suggests, these numbers point to the search engine's evolving ability to determine the context of a page without relying upon keywords.
Coupled with another finding from SEMRush, that content length had a positive correlation with rankings, one can deduce that keywords matter less than relevance.
Finally, SEMRush's "most important" ranking factors, user signals and direct website traffic, emphasize user behavior, which led the firm's representative, Olga Andrienko, to speculate that "top-ranking sites...are all doing on-page optimization well, meaning that Google needs new criteria to differentiate among these sites."
In other words, all successful sites are doing optimization; without SEO a website has little chance to compete. But you know that, right?
Read: Is Indecisiveness About SEO Costing You Money?
Optimize For Your Niche Audience
Searchmetrics did agree with some of SEMRush's findings, but the Enterprise SEO company performed a different sort of analysis, focusing on general trends verse niche (industry specific trends).
Like SEMRush, Searchmetrics found that keywords were not essential in page titles, and that content length matters: "word count correlates with rankings."
Yet Searchmetrics additional findings, about industry-specific trends, offered more nuance. Searchmetrics found that ranking factors differ for each niche industry and/or niche website:
"HTTPS is a bigger deal for finance sites, as those require more user trust; however, it does not seem to be as heavily weighted for travel sites. Usage of images, on the other hand, was not so important for finance websites but had a larger impact for travel sites."
The lesson here, obviously, is that you have to build your website with your end-user in mind. What is important yo your idea customer?
Read: SEO 101: Industry-Specific Keywords
***
Search Engine Land offers a few more tips for putting these findings into action.
For more information: SEO Ranking Factors in 2017: What’s Important and What’s Not
Optimize For the Top Ranking Factors with Stepman's SEO
If you're looking for an SEO company that understands how to effectively promote websites with specific keywords and intriguing content that satisfies search engine ranking factors, contact our sponsor, Stepman's SEO: 215-900-9398.
Stepman's SEO combines traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--with an emphasis on natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective content marketing campaigns.