Google's 200 Ranking Factors - The Complete List!

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Google famously has over 200 ranking factors in its algorithm, and has never (and will never) reveal the exact secret sauce, but that doesn't stop people from trying to crack it.

Source: Infographic Attempts To Pinpoint ‘Google’s 200 Ranking Factors’ | WebProNews
#200 #complete #factors #good #google #google’s #list #ranking #website
  • Profile picture of the author IMstarter
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      I don't know where people come up with this stuff,
      but some of that shtuff, is friggin funny.

      Like the crap on domains and keywords:
      "SEOmoz says that keyword being first in a domain has
      and edge over others."

      So 2011, at best. SEOmoz has now decided to go to moz.com.
      Go figure.

      If course they never heard of wikipedia, amazon, et. al., right?

      But that's just one piece on that 200 crap list that makes no
      sense.

      How about domain registration length? I never heard of such
      crap. Somehow, if your domain expires in 2020, you are
      looked upon as better, because spammers use domains
      that expire in one year.

      One more in voodoo seo...

      That whole infographic is non-info garbage... some of the
      stuff is very, very inane, bordering on ridiculous:
      "Content with more words can cover a wider breadth and
      are likely preferred to shorter superficial articles"

      ROTFLMAO An infographic, trying to rank...! That's
      like, what, a mega-contradiction?

      Man that list is one funny read. If people are swallowing that,
      no wonder there are so many fail threads here.

      Paul
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      • Profile picture of the author Backlinko
        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

        I don't know where people come up with this stuff,
        but some of that shtuff, is friggin funny.
        Originally Posted by GodMode52 View Post

        15% of those factors are well known even for my grandma, then 50% is pure BS and another 35% is pure trash.
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      • Profile picture of the author Backlinko
        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post


        That whole infographic is non-info garbage... some of the
        stuff is very, very inane, bordering on ridiculous:
        "Content with more words can cover a wider breadth and
        are likely preferred to shorter superficial articles"
        You're right. That is ridiculous:

        Little or no original content - Webmaster Tools Help

        hxxp://www.quicksprout.com/2012/12/20/the-science-behind-long-copy-how-more-content-increases-rankings-and-conversions



        I'm not going to debate all 200 points with you Paul. As I said in the original post, some of these are unproven or wild speculation. But I did try my best to find a source for each one of them.
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        • Profile picture of the author nik0
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          Originally Posted by Backlinko View Post

          You're right. That is ridiculous:

          I'm not going to debate all 200 points with you Paul. As I said in the original post, some of these are unproven or wild speculation. But I did try my best to find a source for each one of them.
          Yeah it's not the length, it's the LSI richness, and simply said, the longer the article the more lsi rich you can make it

          1+1=2

          Very long articles with just fluff can have the opposite effect.

          It's not so hard to test though, one page with only one word and a video like Yukon does, and one page with let's say 100 words, a video, and stuff those 100 words as full with LSI's as possible.

          I'm 99.9999% sure the 200 words win.
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          • Profile picture of the author PeckhamPirate
            It seems a good many of us are gradually sitting by watching our money sites slowly slide into oblivion, while others are claiming to have cracked the new code.

            I hear a lot about silo sites - and I've experienced some good results on a video site I own, that has almost no written content but is very well organised.

            But my question is this.

            I have another site that used to do very well on Google. A year ago it was hitting 450-500 visits a day and making very good conversions.

            It has never been penalised officially by Google although until 2 years ago I may have purchased the odd dodgy backlinking campaign, but nothing too bad.

            It contains well-written and informative content - I was doing longtail stuff since I started the site 6 years ago and the majority of pages have plenty of written text, images and videos.

            It has a blog, which gets updated once at least once a month.

            It contains plenty of old school SEO factors like alt text images, <H> 1,2 and 3s - but nothing over the top like Keyword stuffing.

            It has all the usual social links and active associated pages on FB, LI, and Pinterest etc.

            It's SCHEMA'd up to ****, and contains rich snippets for products, author etc

            Over the last year I've focused more on answering questions in my blog posts, but again, it's ssomething I've always done.

            Many of my LongTail videos still rank well.

            But my main money site now ranks below some of the web 2.0 properties I've set up over the years, to drive traffic to it. And those '2nd tier' sites have certainly been subject to Black Hat techniques in the past.

            It's basically dyeing a death, doesn't rank for money keywords, doesn't rank for LT either.
            Just doesn't do much.

            But with a PR2, 6 year history and a lot of time invested, I'm really loathed to walk away at this point.

            WTF am I doing wrong?
            Any ideas gratefully accepted
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      • Profile picture of the author nik0
        Banned
        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

        I don't know where people come up with this stuff,
        but some of that shtuff, is friggin funny.

        Like the crap on domains and keywords:
        "SEOmoz says that keyword being first in a domain has
        and edge over others."

        So 2011, at best. SEOmoz has now decided to go to moz.com.
        Go figure.
        Wow GOLDEN!
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  • Profile picture of the author GodMode52
    15% of those factors are well known even for my grandma, then 50% is pure BS and another 35% is pure trash.

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  • Profile picture of the author TomerN
    It is very good! It all comes down to building a good, high-quality website with quality backlinks and good content. That is the best way to "fool" the search engines. Even my affiliate sites are "good" sites. Thin affiliate sites are a thing of the past, unfortunately, at least in the good niche's.
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  • Profile picture of the author smodha
    In my opinion, the number #1 factor is still backlinks.
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  • Profile picture of the author PeckhamPirate
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    • Profile picture of the author Mikaedi88
      Wow, that sure is a lot, would sure be worthwhile knowing, I'll save it for future reference that's for sure

      Thanks Peckingham, awesome resource
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      • Profile picture of the author PeckhamPirate
        Thanks, but I take no praise for the work.
        I found it over on entrepeneur.com.

        Maybe we can use this thread to throw up a few ideas and thoughts on the points raised in the infographic.

        For example, I know having an SSL certificate is good for ecommerce sites, but it's expensive, especially for some of my underperforming sites and even more especially if some of those sites have been losing value after all of Google's bs.

        So I wonder - Will upgrading my http://blahblah domain to an https:// prefix do anything for my lost rankings?

        If anyone has an answer I'd love to know.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Good grief. :rolleyes:

    Anyone that knows how to rank a page knows the length of a web page doesn't mean squat.

    Crazy how people see a long web page like Wikipedia (example) & really do believe those pages ranked because of a lot of text. Maybe If you have 97,000 words on your web page you'll rank above the Google logo (fail).




    Originally Posted by GodMode52 View Post


    Even the cat knows.
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  • Profile picture of the author kindarthur
    Yes! Google has 200 ranking factors but no one knows accurate factors because every year Google changes the algorithm many times. Here, i have found one on web.

    Check this out: hxxp://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors
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  • Profile picture of the author spyindianishant
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    • Profile picture of the author PeckhamPirate
      @Yukon - Don't be a player hater brother.
      I've read your words all over the forum of late and you talk good sense.

      How about weighing in with some positive advice then, cos personally I do think it's hard to rank very 'light' pages.

      And is it only me that sees searches for my main keywords dominated by sites like Wickipedia, YouTube and Amazon then?
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
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        Originally Posted by PeckhamPirate View Post

        @Yukon - Don't be a player hater brother.
        I've read your words all over the forum of late and you talk good sense.

        How about weighing in with some positive advice then, cos personally I do think it's hard to rank very 'light' pages.

        And is it only me that sees searches for my main keywords dominated by sites like Wickipedia, YouTube and Amazon then?
        The only thing I'm hating on is when people create fluff to meet a number (200). It's like watching the link spammers that think 5,000 forum profile/sig links must be great. More crap doesn't make something better, it just makes it crappier.

        At least 50% of that list is nonsense to reach the magic number (200).

        Read why the infographic author created that list in the first place & you'll know what's going on here. He had the idea that creating more content trumps competition which is silly when the guy with the larger amount of content is just adding nonsense to an existing list in order to have more content than competition.
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        • Profile picture of the author paulgl
          ROTFLMAO! WHy do people dig up these old threads?

          Infographics are so 2012...

          If anyone actually believes in 200 "ranking" factors, man you also
          believe in the Easter Bunny.

          Paul
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          • Profile picture of the author Kevin Maguire
            Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

            ROTFLMAO! WHy do people dig up these old threads?

            Infographics are so 2012...

            If anyone actually believes in 200 "ranking" factors, man you also
            believe in the Easter Bunny.

            Paul
            Hes not real?

            I personally don't look at it like x amount of words makes you better. But what I look at is this.

            Is my page the best page online for this subject/keyword?
            Does my page have the most comprehensive and in-depth content about the subject/keyword?
            Does my page match the search request adequately?

            It could be a page with no text at all, maybe an image, a file a video. Or it could be a full chapter by chapter discussion about "War and Peace".

            Shit like this gets muddled up so easily in SEO. All this text content stuff spawns from the world of blogger marketing. And does not pass over into other types of sites, which there are many.
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            • Profile picture of the author raiko
              I look at it the same way Kevin. But, I'm not sure it ends up working that way. It would be an interesting challenge. Put some minds together and create a page with all known knowledge regarding that particular niche on it. Well written, engaging, complete, and just superior to any other related page on the net. Then see where it ends up ranking after a while. I wouldn't bet on it ranking too high.

              I also just don't see it in the search results. I've written pages on vintage items that have very little competition and contain information that can't be found anywhere else yet rank 8 or 9 pages down behind pages that just mention the name of the item in practically unrelated text.

              So, while I do create content with the idea of being the best, it's really only out of personal pride rather than the thought that the pages will rank high due to their superiority. And, as we all know, high levels of personal pride do not necessarily translate into high levels of income. : )
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  • Profile picture of the author Memphis11
    Very interesting. Page Rank is dead. Moz's domain authority is so much more reliable.
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    • Profile picture of the author nik0
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      Originally Posted by Memphis11 View Post

      Very interesting. Page Rank is dead. Moz's domain authority is so much more reliable.
      DA on it's own is as worthless as it can be, with 100k scrapebox/xrumer links I'm at DA55+ in no time but I would never want a link from such domain.

      Now combine mozrank, moztrust, citation flow & trust flow and you'll get somewhere.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by Memphis11 View Post

      Very interesting. Page Rank is dead. Moz's domain authority is so much more reliable.



      Oh wait. You were being serious.

      Moz's DA is total rubbish. I've found deindexed, penalized sites that have a DA over 50.

      I've blasted brand new domains with nothing but blog comments and profile links and saw the DA hit close to 50 as well.

      Sucks that PR has not been updated in so long, but DA and PA are the last thing I would look at in its place.
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
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        Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post



        Oh wait. You were being serious.

        Moz's DA is total rubbish. I've found deindexed, penalized sites that have a DA over 50.

        I've blasted brand new domains with nothing but blog comments and profile links and saw the DA hit close to 50 as well.

        Sucks that PR has not been updated in so long, but DA and PA are the last thing I would look at in its place.
        Agreed,

        People just don't get the whole Moz sales funnel.

        They create some DIY metric hype to get the newbies believing they have inside secrets for SEO, newbies take the bait, signup, eventually whip out the credit card. Out of all the people doing SEO, folks from an IM forum should be able to sniff out a sales funnel like that.
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      • Profile picture of the author nik0
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        Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post



        Oh wait. You were being serious.

        Moz's DA is total rubbish. I've found deindexed, penalized sites that have a DA over 50.

        I've blasted brand new domains with nothing but blog comments and profile links and saw the DA hit close to 50 as well.

        Sucks that PR has not been updated in so long, but DA and PA are the last thing I would look at in its place.
        Lol you repeat my exact same words (probably we wrote at the same time) and you get 2 thanks and I get zero.

        What is up with that?
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        • Profile picture of the author Elle Holder
          Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

          Lol you repeat my exact same words (probably we wrote at the same time) and you get 2 thanks and I get zero.

          What is up with that?
          Ahh. Here you go.

          I did notice that both of you posted the same thing at the same time.
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          • Profile picture of the author nik0
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            Originally Posted by Elle Holder View Post

            Ahh. Here you go.

            I did notice that both of you posted the same thing at the same time.
            That should be rewarded with a big THANK YOU back
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            • Profile picture of the author yukon
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              Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

              Lol you repeat my exact same words (probably we wrote at the same time) and you get 2 thanks and I get zero.

              What is up with that?
              You contradict yourself.

              You say one DIY moz metric is worthless yet your dependent on other DIY moz metrics.

              How's those sales gimmicks working out?



              Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

              DA on it's own is as worthless as it can be, with 100k scrapebox/xrumer links I'm at DA55+ in no time but I would never want a link from such domain.

              Now combine mozrank, moztrust, citation flow & trust flow and you'll get somewhere.
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              • Profile picture of the author nik0
                Banned
                Originally Posted by yukon View Post

                You contradict yourself.

                You say one DIY moz metric is worthless yet your dependent on other DIY moz metrics.

                How's those sales gimmicks working out?
                You have such a hard time reading isn't it

                Didn't I say somewhere (in the part you quoted) that DA on itself is worthless?

                You're so funny!
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                • Profile picture of the author yukon
                  Banned
                  Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

                  You have such a hard time reading isn't it

                  Didn't I say somewhere (in the part you quoted) that DA on itself is worthless?

                  You're so funny!
                  Exactly, yet your depending on other moz shenanigans.


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                  • Profile picture of the author nik0
                    Banned
                    Originally Posted by yukon View Post

                    Exactly, yet your depending on other moz shenanigans.
                    Ah I forget you are anti-Moz completely, now I get it!
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                    • Profile picture of the author yukon
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                      Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

                      Ah I forget you are anti-Moz completely, now I get it!
                      I posted a video, I guess you still can't hear me?

                      Yes, I'm anti-moz, I'm also not fond of Amway (see the connection).
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  • Profile picture of the author PeckhamPirate
    I think the infographic may be a couple of years old, no?
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
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      Originally Posted by PeckhamPirate View Post

      I think the infographic may be a couple of years old, no?
      If I remember correctly that infographic is less than a year old. Really the age doesn't matter, If it was created 10 years ago it would still be mostly fluff to reach the magic 200 number.
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  • Profile picture of the author Make Money Ninja
    Its pure mental masturbation.

    Honestly, if you try to game too many factors, you WILL get a penalty, i can almost gaurantee you that.

    Best advice would literally to tell people to go out and create as much high quality content as possible around shit that people search for and buy (research!!!).

    Then spend a little bit of time getting links from good sources.

    People who take action on this advice will 9/10 become over optimized. You know, the ones who..

    - Put the exact keyword in the title with nothing else.
    - Put the exact keyword in the url.
    - Put the exact keyword in the h1.
    - Put the exact keyword in the first and last paragraph.
    - Put the exact keyword in an image alt tag.
    - Get the exact keyword in their backlinks (then when they think they are smart they do partial keywords).

    Listen, its all mental masturbation. The new optimization is UNOPTIMIZATION. Create content around keywords loosely, create value, do not over optimize, get eyeballs on your content. That is how you win long term, not trying to optimize for every shitty factor.. which will get you penalized.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fantastic
    I'm not gonna call the list BS but I will say this...

    If you focus on 5 things:

    1. Good content (regardless of length)

    2. Quality backlinks

    3. Good SEO tactics

    4. Hard work, consistency, and time.

    5. A good social media campaign or something comparable


    You have a good chance of ranking...


    I don't see why so many people try to look between the lines.
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  • Profile picture of the author lordgreen
    You have all said it well and good. All I know is content is king when you give enough good contents on a site with EMD it serve you better by given you high ranking.
    But getting the good contents requires a lot of experience on that particular niche.
    Cheers.
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