Every two years, Seattle search engine analysts and search software tools providers MOZ.com (formerly the SEOmoz-sters) tabulate, correlate, aggregate and independently weight the independent Search Engine Ranking Factors that determine where a Web listing will rank in the leading search engine indices. The following 2013 SEO Ranking Factors are therefore indicative of those characteristics, in the order shown below, that will help—or hurt—a site’s visibility in the major search engines, primarily Google and Bing (Bing still administers the organic indexing and ranking for Yahoo! Search).
Surprises? The biggest surprise, and ultimately the biggest “upset” in the standings, is the influence of Google +1’s as a predominant ranking factor. This appears to be an unabashedly shameless plug by and for Google+ to incentivize participation in its own social media network! If you are not yet “optimized” for letting your site’s visitors click on Google +1’s for your site you are missing out on one of the biggest search ranking “giveaways” that may ever come along in the search engine algorithm steeplechase.
1. Page Authority (PA) 0.39
2. # of Google +1’s 0.30
3. # Unique cblocks Linking to the Page 0.29
4. # of Unique IPs Linking to the Page 0.29
5. # of Root Domains Linking to the Page 0.29
6. # of Root Domains Linking to Page w/ Partial Match Anchor Text 0.29
7. # of Subdomains Linking to the Page 0.28
8. # of Root Domains Linking to Page w/ Exact Match Anchor Text 0.28
9. # Unique C-blocks w/ Followed Links to the Page 0.28
10. # Unique IPs with Followed Links to the Page 0.28
11. # of Unique Domains w/ Followed Links to a Page 0.28
12. # of External Links to the Page (included Followed And Nofollowed) 0.28
13. # of Unique Domains w/ Followed Links to the Subdomain 0.27
14. # of Subdomains w/ Followed Links to the Subdomain 0.27
15. The MozRank of the Subdomain of the URL 0.27
16. # of External Pages Linking to Page w/ Partial Match Anchor Text 0.27
17. # of Root Domains Linking to the Subdomain 0.27
18. # of Subdomains Linking to the Subdomain 0.27
19. # of External Pages Linking to Page w/ Exact Match Anchor Text 0.27
20. Sum of Facebook Shares, Likes, Comments 0.27
21. Domain Authority (DA) 0.27
22. # of Juice-Passing External Links to the Page 0.27
23. # of Facebook Shares 0.27
24. MozRank of External Links w/ Exact Match Anchor Text 0.27
25. Subdomain MozTrust 0.27
26. MozRank Passed by External Links w/ Partial Match Anchor Text 0.26
27. # of Followed Linking Root Domains to the Domain 0.26
28. # of Unique IPs w/ Followed Links to the Domain 0.26
29. # of cblock w/ Followed Links to the Domain 0.26
30. # of Root Domains Linking to the Domain 0.26
31. # of Unique IPs Linking to the Domain 0.26
32. # of Unique cblocks Linking to the Domain 0.26
33. MozRank of the Root Domain 0.26
34. The Portion of the Pages’s MozRank Coming From External Links 0.26
35. Portion Subdomain MozRank From External Links 0.26
36. MozTrust of the Root Domain 0.25
37. # of External Links (Followed And Nofollowed) to the Subdomain 0.25
38. # of Juice-Passing External Links to the Subdomain of the URL 0.25
39. Portion of Root Domain MozRank from External Links 0.25
40. Page MozTrust 0.25
41. # of Total External Links to the Root Domain 0.24
42. # of Juice-Passing External Links to the Domain 0.24
43. # of Facebook Comments 0.24
44. # of Facebook Likes 0.23
45. MozRank Passed by all Links w/ Exact Match Anchor Text 0.23
46. MozRank Passed by all Links w/ Partial Match Anchor Text 0.23
47. # of Links (Juice-Passing Or Not, Internal Or External) to the Page 0.22
48. Combined MozRank of all Pages on the Domain 0.22
49. Combined MozRank of all Pages On The Subdomain 0.22
50. Total Links (including Internal And Nofollow Links) to the Domain 0.22
51. # of Followed Links (Both Internal And External) to the Domain 0.22
52. # of Linking Pages to Page w/ Exact Match Anchor Text 0.22
53. Total Links (including Internal And Nofollow) to the Subdomain 0.22
54. # of Unique Subdomains w/ Followed Links to the Domain 0.22
55. # of Juice-Passing Links (Internal Or External) to the Page 0.22
56. # of Linking Pages to Page w/ Partial Match Anchor Text 0.22
57. # of Root Domains Linking to Domain w/ Partial Match Anchor Text 0.22
58. Page MozRank 0.21
59. # of Links to the Sub-Domain in Last 30 Days in FWE 0.21
60. # of Tweets From Topsy 0.21
61. # of External Pages Linking to Domain w/ Partial Match Anchor Text 0.20
62. # of Full Domain Mentions in the Last 30 Days in FWE 0.20
63. Exact Match .com Domain 0.20
64. # of Pages Linking to Domain w/ Partial Match Anchor Text 0.19
65. # of Links in the Last 30 Days to the Root Domain in FWE 0.19
66. Page is Topsy Influencial 0.17
67. # of Mentions in the Last 30 Days of the Domain Name in FWE 0.17
68. # of Internal Pages Linking to Domain w/ Partial Match Anchor Text 0.16
69. Exact Match Domain 0.16
70. # of Links in the Last 30 Days to the URL in FWE 0.15
71. # of Internal Links on Page 0.14
72. # of Follow Links on Page 0.14
73. Body Text Similarity to Keyword (Language Model) 0.13
74. # of Links on Page 0.13
75. # of Root Domains Linking to Domain w/ Exact Match Anchor Text 0.13
76. # of External Linking Pages w/ Exact Match Anchor Text 0.13
77. Keyword Usage in Title Tag (tf-idf) 0.13
78. Keyword Usage in H1 (tf-idf) 0.12
79. Total # of Characters in the HTML Code 0.12
80. Keyword Usage in Body Text (tf-idf) 0.12
81. MozRank Passed by all Internal Links w/ Partial Match Anchor Text 0.11
82. # of Internal Pages Linking to Page w/ Partial Match Anchor Text 0.11
83. # of Pages Linking to Domain w/ Exact Match Anchor Text 0.10
84. MozRank Passed by all Internal Links w/ Exact Match Anchor Text 0.10
85. Keyword Usage in Meta Description (tf-idf) 0.10
86. # of Internal Pages Linking to Page w/ Exact Match Anchor Text 0.10
87. # of Characters in Body Copy 0.09
88. # of Indexed Pages On The Site in The Last 30 Days in FWE 0.09
89. H1 Similarity to Keyword (Language Model) 0.08
90. Title Tag Similarity to Keyword (Language Model) 0.08
91. Meta Description Similarity to Keyword (Language Model) 0.08
92. # of No Follow Links on Page 0.07
93. # of Img Tags 0.06
94. # of Partial Matches in Domain Name (Pmd) 0.06
95. # of External Nofollow Links on Page 0.06
96. # of Internal Pages Linking to Domain w/ Exact Match Anchor Text 0.06
97. # of Partial Matches in Full URL 0.06
98. # of Internal Nofollow Links on Page 0.05
99. # of External Links on Page 0.04
100. Keyword Usage in H2 Tag (tf-idf) 0.03
101. URL Starts with ‘www’ 0.03
102. URL Contains an Underscore 0.02
103. H2 Similarity to Keyword (Language Model) 0.02
104. Page Has Schema.org Markup 0.02
105. URL Contains a Query (example.com/page?id=1) 0.01
106. Page Has Google+ Publisher Markup 0.01
107. Total Area of All Images on Page 0.00
108. Page Has Open Graph Markup 0.00
-1. Page Has Twitter Card Markup -0.02
-2. # of Large Images (Greater Than Or Equal to 1024X768px) -0.02
-3. Folder Depth of URL (# of Trailing Slashes) -0.02
-4. # of Videos On Page -0.03
-5. Page Contains Google+ Authorship Markup -0.03
-6. # of Google Adsense Slots in The Page -0.03
-7. Domain has Numbers (example123.com) -0.03
-8. # of Hyphens in Domain Name -0.03
-9. Total Area of Adsense Slots on Page -0.04
-10. # of Characters in the Title -0.04
-11. URL Contains Hyphens -0.04
-12. Total Length of the Full Domain (www.subdomain.pld.com) -0.09
-13. URL Length in Characters -0.10
-14. Response Time of Page in Seconds -0.10
The Overall Algorithm
Notes on the survey’s responses regarding the overall algorithm:
- Links are still believed to be the most important part of the algorithm (approximately 40%).
- Keyword usage on the page is still fundamental, and—other than links—is thought to be the most important type of factor.
- SEOs do not think social factors are important in the 2013 algorithm (only 7%), in contrast to the high correlations.
Domain Level Keyword-Agnostic Features
These features relate to the entire root domain, but don’t directly describe link or keyword-based elements. Instead, they relate to things like the length of the domain name in characters.
Rated on a scale of importance from 1 (No Importance) to 10 (Very Important)
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