Search Engine Ranking Factors
SEOmoz | Search Engine Ranking Factors lists 93 factors that mayhave influence search engine rankings. Some are widely accepted...eg title tags as one of the most important elements. Others are more speculative...eg. use of header tags (H1), bold and other visual tags while others seem to change constantly...eg. the value of links. The list of ranking factors is split into five sections:"Introduction to Ranking Factors lists the factors that can influence a web document's rank at the major search engines (Yahoo!, MSN, Google & AskJeeves) for a particular term or phrase
In-Document Factors Affecting Ranking (26) on-page items that affect the ranking directly by virtue of being a part of the indexed and retrieved document:
Title Tag
Keyword Use in Document Text
Related Term Use in Document Text
External Links in Document
Links to Document from Site-Internal Pages
Uniqueness of Document Text
Age of Document
High Level Authorship Marks
Document Language
Stemming & Plurality Evaluation
Paragraph Headings
Citation Links or Sources
Depth of Document in Site
Rate of Updates to Document
Variety & % of Content Changes
Organization of Document Text
Internal Links in Document
Meta Keywords Tag
Keyword Use in URL
Meta Description Tag
Use of H1, Bold & Other Visual Tags
Grammar Use in Document Text
Spelling Accuracy in Document Text
Stopword Frequency
Reading Level of Document Text
Quality of Document Text
Text in Alt/Img Title Tags
Document Length
Use of In-Document Links & Anchors
Document Type
W3C Validation
Site Factors Affecting the Value of Hosted Documents (21) factors affect all documents hosted at a particular website. These factors influence the overall strength and focus of the site where documents are hosted, thereby affecting any page at the site:
Global Link Popularity of Site
Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community
Primary Subject Matter of Site
Anchor Text of Incoming Links to Site
Topical Relevance of Incoming Links to Site
Age of Site
Site Language
Rate of Document Additions/Change
Rate of New Incoming Links to Site
Rate of Expiring/ Removed Links to Site
Historical Rankings of Site in SERPs
Historical User-Action Metrics Related to Site
Keyword Use in Domain Name
Hyphens in Domain Name
Domain Extension
Internal Link Structure
Membership in Sitemaps/Paid Inclusion Programs
Semantic Connections of Hosted Documents
# of Hosted Documents
Size of Hosted Documents
Shifts in Rate of Change to Hosted Documents
Existence of Sitemap Page on Site
Use of re-direction directives
Factors Affecting the Value of a Link (25) factors influence the power, relevance and rank boosting effect a link carries with it when pointing to a particular document. Note that all links, in addition to being influenced by these factors, are affected by many of the site and page factors above:
Anchor Text of Link
Global Popularity of Site
Popularity of Site in Topical Community
External Links to Linking Page
Location of Linking Page in Site Structure
Text on Linking Page
Text Directly Surrounding the Link
Semantic Relationship of Linking Page
Age of Link
Affiliations of Linking Site with Target Site
Existence of Rel=Nofollow tag
Implicit Trust of Site
Shared IP Address or C-Block Address
Link Relationships Between Sites
Additional External or Internal Links on Page
Existence of Link on Other Pages of Site
Related Term Use in Linking Page
Rate of All External Links to Site/Document
Anchor Text of All Links to Site/Document
Domain Extension
Rate of Content Changes to Linking Page
Updates/Changes to Link
Link Title
Visual Tags Affecting Link Text
Location of Link on Page
URL, Technical, Hosting & Server Side Factors (11) factors affect a document's rankings by virtue of their affect on technical, spidering/indexing or trust areas of the search engines' rankings:
Accessibility of Document
Use of Web Page Frames
Dynamic Parameters in URL
Session ID Variables
Hosting Uptime
Use of Noarchive/NoIndex in Robots.txt
Domain Registration Information
Domain Registration Length
Geographic Hosting Location
URL Length
IP-Based Content Delivery
Domain Registration Date
Robots.txt Presence
Detrimental Ranking Factors (10) perceived to negatively affect rankings in the search engines. These include specifically prohibited activities and those that can damage reputation or ranking based on their lowering of trust, quality or relevance inputs:
Delivery Disparities
Duplicate Content
Canonical Issues
Link Spamming
Keyword Spamming
Invalid Code
Linking to "Bad Neighborhoods"
Unethical Practices
Illegal Content
Un-"safe" Content
URL Hijacking
Broken Links
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posted by Jen @ 6:36 AM
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