SEO Ranking Factors - Watcha need to know!
Part 1 of 3
How do I get to the top of the Search Engines naturally? Or more accurately “What are the ranking factors that determine my position in the organic listings for a precise keyword or phrase and what is their relative importance?”
These two questions are on the minds of everybody who is trying their hand at Internet Marketing. The big trend taking place is Natural SEO or Search Engine Optimization as known as Organic SEO. So let’s work through some answers.
To be truthful, the only people who can answer this question honestly are the search engine engineers who are making the rules each and every day. However, I have over 5 years of experience of working knowledge not to mention every once in a while we will get a disclosure from the Search Engines themselves. I am also a ferocious reader of all things SEO/SEM related. I have compiled a comprehensive list of the most important factors which determine position in the various SERP’s.
Let’s first explore, what determines ranking position in the natural position.
Ranking for a particular keyword or phrase is dependent on the search engine ranking algorithms. Lets start from the beginning, but don’t worry I won’t get to deep into search algorithms.
Once you enter a search query and hit submit an algorithm uses various rules to identify the most relevant pages, based on the Keyword Use Factors, Page Attributes, Site/Domain Attributes, Negative Crawling/Ranking Attributes and various outside influences such as inbound links. Inbound links also known as (IBL’s) indicated by links from other pages and sites to your website.
Every search engine uses its own set of algorithms. Some of the smaller SE’s use the other larger SE’s as their engine. To see a graphic example check out this Search Engine Decoder. The algorithms are always striving to produce the best relevance to better server its user. These algorithms have developed over the past ten years based on a long history of indexing and retrieval history. Search engine engineers are consistently refining the process and change it. However, these search engines tend to use common search engine ranking factors. Ok… Ok… I hear you out there saying get with the ranking factors already!
Now for the four key ranking factors and sub factors…
1. Keyword Use Factors
2. Page Attributes
3. Site/Domain Attributes
4. Inbound Link Attribute
In the next article I will touch upon each of these sub ranking factors (part 2 of 3). The following article I will discuss “Negative Crawling/Ranking Attributes.”(part 3 of 3)
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NOTE: This is not a document that attempts to reverse-engineer Google’s algorithm, nor does it attempt to inform web developers or marketers about how to optimize their sites.