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Keyword Use Factors

Relates to the use of the user’s search query terms in determining the rank of a particular page.

Keyword Use in Title Tag

Placing the targeted search term or phrase in the title tag of the web page’s HTML header

Keyword Use in Body Text

Using the targeted search term in the visible, HTML text of the page

Relationship of Body Text Content to Keywords (Topic Analysis)

Topical relevance of text on the page compared to targeted keywords

Keyword Use in H1 Tag

Creating an H1 tag with the targeted search term/phrase

Keyword Use in Domain Name and/or page url – not a big issue on the home page – hufe with 2nd – 3rd tier pages

Including the targeted term/phrase in the registered domain name, i.e. keyword.com

Keyword Use in H2, H3, H(x) Tags

Placing targeted terms in the H2, H3 headline HTML tags

Keyword Use in Alt Tags and Image Titles

Using target keywords inside alt HTML tags and img title tags

Keyword Use in Bold/Strong Tags

Positioning keyword in HTML text with strong/bold attributes

Keyword Use in Meta Description Tag

Utilizing keywords in the meta description tag in a webpage’s HTML header

Keyword Use in Meta Keywords Tag

Utilizing keywords in the meta keywords tag in a webpage’s HTML header

Page Attributes

How the serch Engines interpret specific data about a webpage independent of keywords

Hard Linking/Link Popularity within the Site’s Internal Link Structure

Refers to the number and importance of internal links pointing to the target page

Quality/Relevance of Links to External Sites/Pages

Do links on the page point to high quality, topically-related pages?

Age of Document

Older pages may be perceived as more authoritative while newer pages may be more temporally relevant

Amount of Indexable Text Content

Refers to the literal quantity of visible HTML text on a page

Quality of the Document Content (as measured algorithmically)

Assuming search engines can use text, visual or other analysis methods to determine the validity and value of content, this metric would provide some level of rating

Organization/Hierarchy of Document Flow (i.e. broad > narrow)

The construction of document text flow – i.e. journalistic style generally dictates a detail-oriented introduction, a broad level overview of the issue and increasing specificity and detail as the article continues.

Frequency of Updates to Page

The number and time frame of changes made to the document over time

Number of Trailing Slashes (/) in URL

No more than 4

Accuracy of Spelling & Grammar

The literal correctness of spelling and grammar as related to the language of the document

HTML Validation of Document (to W3C Standards)

Validation of HTML page code as per the W3C consortium, an authoritative body on the standards of web-compatible code

Site/Domain Attributes

The factors below contribute to Google’s rankings based on the site/domain on which a page resides.

Global Link Popularity of Site

The overall link weight/authority as measured by links from any and all sites across the web (both link quality and quantity)

Age of Site

Not the date of original registration of the domain, but rather the launch of indexable content seen by the search engines (note that this can change if a domain switches ownership)

Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site

The subject-specific relationship between the sites/pages linking to the target page and the target keyword

Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community

The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world

Rate of New Inbound Links to Site

The frequency and timing of external sites linking in to the given domain

Relevance of Site’s Primary Subject Matter to Query

The topical relationships between the full content of a website and a user’s given query

Historical Performance of Site as Measured by Time Spent on Page, Clickthroughs from SERPs, Direct Visits, Bookmarks, etc.

Metric of click-through-rate, time spent on a page/site, direct navigation via bookmarks, etc. that Google may be measuring through use of their toolbar, free wifi, Google analytics, etc. (note that this is purely speculation as Google has never publicly admitted to monitoring or recording this data)

Manual Authority/Weight Given to Site by Google

Google is occassionally suspected or accused of applying manual manipulation to a domain or page (note that this factor refers specifically to positive ranking manipulation)

TLD Extension of Site (edu, gov, us, ca, com, etc)

The top-level domain extension of the site. Note that some domains, such as .edu, .gov, .mil and others have restrictions on who may purchase them

Rate of New Pages Added to Site

The amount & frequency of new, spiderable documents added to the domain over time

Number of Queries for Site/Domain over Time

The frequency of searches for the domain name or the company/organization’s brand as measured through Google’s search query logs

Verification of Site with Google Webmaster Central – Google Sitemaps

Inbound Link Attribute

These pieces affect Google’s weighting of links from external websites pointing to a page.

Anchor Text of Inbound Link

Global Link Popularity of Linking Site

Topical Relationship of Linking Page

Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community

The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world

Age of Link

Topical Relationship of Linking Site

Text Surrounding the Link

Internal Link Popularity of Linking Page within Host Site/Domain

Temporal Link Attributes (when in time the link was created/updated)

Domain Extension of Linking Site (edu, gov, com, ca, co.uk, etc)

PageRank (as measured by the GG Toolbar) of Linking Page

Negative Crawling/Ranking Attributes

The following components may negatively affect a spider’s ability to crawl a page or its rankings at Google.

Server is Often Inaccessible to Bots

Content Very Similar or Duplicate of Existing Content in the Index

External Links to Low Quality/Spam Sites

Duplicate Title/Meta Tags on Many Pages

Overuse of Targeted Keywords (Stuffing/Spamming)

Participation in Link Schemes or Actively Selling Links

Very Slow Server Response Times

Inbound Links from Spam Sites

Low Levels of Visitors to the Site (Measured via Toolbar, Clicks in SERPs, etc.)