{"id":1697,"date":"2017-11-14T00:00:18","date_gmt":"2017-11-14T00:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onlinemarketingdiy.com\/?p=1697"},"modified":"2022-06-06T18:54:23","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T18:54:23","slug":"seo-ranking-factors-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/omaha-seo.com\/blog\/seo-ranking-factors-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"SEO Ranking Factors For Today: What Works?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The stakes are high. A top Google organic listing can bring you a stead stream of targeted traffic, leads, new customers and revenue. These SEO ranking factors<\/a> will get you started on the right track. If you need professional assistance, call us now at 800-419-7150.<\/p>\n

SEO Ranking Factors For 2017<\/h2>\n

What are the most crucial search engine ranking factors these days? Panelists at SMX East discussed their findings and provided practical advice for putting this data into action.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>As technology advances, search engines can refine their ranking algorithms to better determine relevance and return results that better align with searcher intent.<\/p>\n

Because these SEO ranking factors are constantly being improved and refined,\u00a0search<\/a> engine ranking factors\u00a0are always evolving. Factors that might once have had a huge impact on search rankings may no longer matter all that much, and new ranking factors (such as\u00a0mobile-friendliness\u00a0or\u00a0HTTPS) can emerge to reflect changing technologies and user behaviors.<\/p>\n

So, what are the most important ranking factors today, in 2017? A panel at SMX East, \u201cSEO Ranking Factors in 2017: What\u2019s Important and What\u2019s Not,\u201d sought to answer that question. This panel featured data from large-scale studies performed by SEMrush and Searchmetrics, as well as case studies and practical advice for adapting your SEO strategies to current realities.<\/p>\n

SEMrush Ranking Factors 2.0<\/h2>\n

The first panelist was Olga Andrienko from SEMrush, who shared the results of a large-scale study on ranking factors that examined the top 100 positions for 600,000 keywords. Keywords were grouped by search volume into the following categories:<\/p>\n

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  • Very High:<\/strong>\u00a010,001 monthly searches and up<\/li>\n
  • High:<\/strong>\u00a01,001 to 10,000 monthly searches<\/li>\n
  • Medium:<\/strong>\u00a0101 to 1,000 monthly searches<\/li>\n
  • Low:<\/strong>\u00a01 to 100 monthly searches<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    SEMrush looked at on-page factors, referring domains and traffic data, then compiled their findings to see which ranking factors appeared to be the most important. Here were some of their findings:<\/p>\n

    Website security (HTTPS)<\/strong><\/p>\n

    SEMrush found that 65 percent of domains in the top three positions for Very High volume keywords are already secure. Although it\u2019s not a huge ranking factor, Andrienko recommended switching to HTTPS to help with conversions and building trust.<\/p>\n

    Content length<\/strong><\/p>\n

    SEMrush found that content length generally had a positive correlation with search rankings; content for pages in the top three positions is 45 percent longer, on average than content in the 20th position.<\/p>\n

    Even so,\u00a0Andrienko did not recommend simply writing a ton of content in order to rank better \u2014 the key is to write\u00a0sufficiently<\/em>\u00a0long content that is relevant and matches user intent. Look at what your competitors are doing, and figure out how you can create content that provides more value to users.<\/p>\n

    Keywords<\/strong><\/p>\n

    SEMrush had some interesting findings with relation to keywords. They found that:<\/p>\n

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    • 35 percent of domains ranking for high-volume keywords don\u2019t have the keyword in the title. This suggests that Google\u2019s algorithms are getting better at understanding context\/synonyms, and\/or that keywords in the page title are becoming a less important ranking factor.<\/li>\n
    • Very few links contain a keyword in the anchor text \u2014 in fact, even among Very High volume keywords, only 8 percent of link anchors included a keyword. This may suggest that keywords in anchor text are not a major ranking factor, but it also might be a reflection of SEO adhering more strictly to link-building best practices that see anchor text links as spammy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Website traffic<\/strong><\/p>\n

      SEMrush exclusively studied website traffic\u2019s impact on rankings. They found that the number of visits matters for high-volume keywords.<\/p>\n

      Interestingly, search traffic\u00a0specifically<\/em>\u00a0did\u00a0not<\/strong>\u00a0appear to have any impact on rankings; however, direct traffic\u00a0does<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

      User signals<\/strong><\/p>\n

      The SEMrush study also looked at various user signals, including:<\/p>\n

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      • bounce rate.\u00a0<\/strong>Overall, bounce rate is low for the top three positions but gets higher as you go down \u2014 this could suggest that top-ranking sites have more relevant content, better site speed, higher user trust and so forth.<\/li>\n
      • pages per session.\u00a0<\/strong>Higher pages per session correlate with rankings, too.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Andrienko suggested that Google does not directly take user signals into account, but that if they\u2019re low, that means users aren\u2019t engaging with your site as they should be.<\/p>\n

        Links<\/strong><\/p>\n

        High-quality\u00a0link building\u00a0is still super-important, both in terms of referring domains and \u201cfollowed\u201d backlinks.\u00a0Andrienko noted that backlinks matter, especially for sites targeting keywords with fewer than 10,000 monthly searches.<\/p>\n

        What factor is most important?<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Interestingly, SEMrush found that user signals and (direct) website traffic were actually the highest predictors of top rankings. Andrienko theorized that this was because top-ranking sites (i.e., those on page 1) are all doing on-page optimization well, meaning that Google needs new criteria to differentiate among these sites.<\/p>\n

        Why General Ranking Factors Are Dead!<\/h2>\n

        Next up was Marcus Tober from Searchmetrics. His company also analyzed ranking factors, but rather than look at factors by keyword search volume, he looked at factors by general trends versus individual industry\/niche trends.<\/p>\n

        Tober noted that, while there are broad, general trends in terms of overall ranking factors, specific industries and niches seem to weight certain ranking factors more heavily. Here are some of Searchmetrics\u2019 findings:<\/p>\n

        General trends<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Everyone is improving their page load time across the board. While this isn\u2019t a massive ranking factor, it\u2019s important to see how you compare to your competitors so you don\u2019t get left behind.<\/p>\n

        Like\u00a0Andrienko, Tober found that keywords in titles are not that important. Indeed, only 48 percent of top-ranking (position #1) websites have their keywords in the title tag, suggesting that Google is getting better at judging relevance without this factor.<\/p>\n

        Searchmetrics also found that word count for top-ranking pages is increasing. Both Tober and Andrienko note that word count correlates with rankings, but they also advise to not just \u201cgo big\u201d on content and hope for an increase in rankings.<\/p>\n

        Industry-specific trends<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Tober found that different ranking factors seemed to be weighted differently depending on the query itself, so Searchmetrics broke out ranking factors by industry in their study (specifically looking at e-commerce, finance, health, media, and travel).<\/p>\n

        The study looked at how ranking factors within each of these industries were weighted against the average \u2014 this provided some insight into which ranking factors are most relevant for each of these industries.<\/p>\n

        For example, 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 on travel sites.<\/p>\n

        The point here is user intent: What does the user want? That is naturally going to be different for different industries.<\/p>\n

        Niche-specific trends<\/strong><\/p>\n

        It isn\u2019t just different industries that have different ranking factors, and Searchmetrics also looked at more niche types of websites to see what trends they could find. This included dating sites, SEO services sites and recipe sites.<\/p>\n

        Again, Tober found that certain ranking factors were weighted differently based on niche. For example, HTTPS usage is high among SEO sites but not among dating and recipe sites. On the other hand, use of structured data and Schema.org markup was highest among recipe sites \u2014 likely because recipes have valuable\u00a0rich snippets\u00a0associated with them in SERPs.<\/p>\n

        Overall, Tober\u2019s message was that ranking signals are relative to your industry and niche, so consider what your users need when considering how you structure your site and create content for your pages. He echoed Andrienko\u2019s call to look at your competition and see what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

        The final speaker was Herndon Hasty, digital marketing manager for The Container Store. His presentation was more focused on taking the data and findings from previous speakers and providing practical applications. He used case studies to illustrate his own findings, too.<\/p>\n

        Site speed<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Site speed is a\u00a0longstanding ranking factor, and it\u2019s becoming more important as mobile usage continues to rise. Here are Hasty\u2019s main recommendations for improving site speed:<\/p>\n

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        • Caching.<\/strong>\u00a0Find more elements on your site that you aren\u2019t currently caching or that you should be caching for a longer time period. (Basically, this ensures that the page can load faster for anyone who\u2019s been to your site before.)<\/li>\n
        • Combining your external files.<\/strong>\u00a0Reducing your page size by hosting your JavaScript and CSS on external files can be a great idea, but not if you have 30 to 40 external resources that need to be called. Try to consolidate your external files where possible.<\/li>\n
        • Managing your tags.<\/strong>\u00a0Remove vendor tags you\u2019re not using, and be sure to have the latest versions of the tags you\u00a0are<\/em>\u00a0using.<\/li>\n
        • Image optimization.<\/strong>\u00a0Hasty believed that image size is the biggest factor impacting site speed. Any time you can shrink an image, it\u2019s going to improve your page speed. Don\u2019t use images that are too big \u2014 load large versions only when customers want it! Whether it\u2019s product images, repeated elements or logos, make sure you fit images to their exact space.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          HTTPS<\/strong><\/p>\n

          SEOs have been working on securing their sites ever since Google announced back in 2014 that\u00a0HTTPS would provide a slight ranking boost.<\/p>\n

          When\u00a0switching to HTTPS, you do need to consider site speed, as it will slow down the site a bit \u2014 but many still believe the switch is worth it, as there may come a day when Google makes HTTPS a requirement, similar to the mobile-friendly update.<\/p>\n

          The unfortunate part about switching to HTTPS is that it carries all the risks and challenges of a site redesign but without any of the fun.<\/p>\n

          Because you\u2019ll need to implement HTTP to HTTPS redirects throughout your entire site, this does at least present a great opportunity to take care of any URL changes that you want to make.<\/p>\n

          The biggest element that often gets missed in an HTTP to HTTPS migration is canonical tags. Updating your canonical tags is critical, as your site can experience a loss of traffic and site performance due to out-of-date canonicals.<\/p>\n

          Metadata<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Somewhat contrary to the findings above by SEMrush and Searchmetrics, Hasty has found that titles\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0have an impact and\u00a0do<\/em>\u00a0make a difference, especially for lower ranking pages.<\/p>\n

          Meta descriptions are, of course, not a ranking factor, but they can improve click-through rates. What works in meta descriptions? It\u2019s different for all niches and industries, but Hasty has found that including the following in your meta descriptions tends to increase performance:<\/p>\n

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          • Keywords.<\/li>\n
          • Free shipping\/returns.<\/li>\n
          • Brand names people know.<\/li>\n
          • \u201cOfficial site\u201d (a trust signal).<\/li>\n
          • Promotions and sales.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            SERP changes<\/strong><\/p>\n

            Changes to search engine results pages (SERPs) can really drive down click-through rates \u2014 featured answers, more\/larger rich snippets, product listing ads and the addition of a fourth text ad to some SERPs have all led to less above-the-fold page real estate for organic results.<\/p>\n

            These are things you largely can\u2019t control, but you can still adapt your strategies to this changing reality. For example, Hasty recommended seeking \u201cinstant answer boxes,\u201d also known as featured snippets.\u00a0These are showing up for more generic terms and take up 15 to 90 percent of above-the-fold SERP space \u2014 plus, your digital assistants will read these in response to voice search.<\/p>\n

            To obtain a featured snippet, you need to be on the first page, but you don\u2019t even need to be in the top five. Hasty suggests using structured data where possible, too \u2014 this will help you capture the correct search intent as Google gets smarter and better at understanding query intent.<\/p>\n

            Via\u00a0SEO Ranking Factors in 2017: What\u2019s Important and What\u2019s Not
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