Let us take you through the top sections of the report released by Searchmetrics of Google’s top search ranking factors:
Content Factors:
A new ranking factor called content relevance has been introduced which will help measuring the relevance of a piece of content on a scale of 0-100. Higher the relevance score, higher will be the rankings.
With content in the top positions exceeding 1000 words, word count still remains an important factor when it comes to rankings.
The measured use of keywords is not of primary importance. Only about 53% of the topmost queries have keywords in the title tags.
User Signals:
Click-through rate, bounce rate and time on site are the top ranking factors since these are the signals about how satisfied a user is with the content of the page is just visited.
Technical Factors:
The usage of H2 tags has witnessed a noteworthy rise in the past one year. Searchmetrics endorse their use for a competitive advantage. Some other important technical factors are:
Loading Time
Responsive Layouts
URLS
Mobile Versions
User Experience Factors:
Internal links are said to be really important since they help in directing the search engines and users to the relevant pages. External links, video integration and images also make a pivotal addition when it comes to user experience and they too are important factors of ranking.
Social Signals:
All of the top-ranked websites display more social signals than all other pages.
Backlink Signals:
Backlinks are now taking a back seat to other signals such as content and user experience. For certain niche topics it is even possible to obtain the desired ranking without having a lot of backlinks.
Let’s be patient and see what the forthcoming Searchmetrics report holds for us.